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THE 


HISTORY,  CHARACTER 


RESULTS, 


WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES, 


A   DISCOURSE, 

IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  THE  BI-CENTENABT  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THAT 
BODY. 


BY 

THOMAS  SMYTH,  D.  D., 

Author  of  Lectures  on  the  Prelatical  Doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession, 
Presbytery  and  not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Polity,  Eccleti- 
aetical  Republicanism,  An  Ecclesiastical  Catechism,  etc. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REaUEST. 


NEW-YORK  . 

LEAVITT,  TROW,  &  CO.,  AND  ROBERT  CARTER. 
BOSTON  :     CROCKER    &    EREWSTKR.       PHILADELPHIA  :     WM.    S, 
MARTIEN,  AND  PERKINS  &   PURVES.       PITTSBURGH  :  THOMAS 
CARTER. 

LONDON: 
WILEY    AND    PUTNAM. 

1844. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1844, 
By  LEAVITT,  TROW,  &  CO., 
1  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Soutliern  District  of 
New- York. 


SMYTH,  Thomas,  cl('r<rvm<an,  Avasborn  in  Bel- 
fast, Irelaiul,  July  14,  1808.  '  He  was  educated  at  Bel- 
fast CoUeii'e,  studied  divinity  at  Highbury  C"olk\i;-e, 
London,  andal  Princeton  after  liiseuiiiiiation  in  1880; 
ntered  the  Presl)yteiian  ministry,  and  was  pastor 
of  tile  Second  ehuicli  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  from 
1882.  He  made  a  number  of  contributions  to  the 
controversial  and  doctrinal  literature  of  his  com- 
n\union,  among  them  "Lectures  on  Apo.stolic  Suc- 
cession "  (1840);  "Ecclesiastical  Catechism  "  (1841); 
"  Presbvterv  and  not  Prelacv  the  Scriptural  and 
Primitive  Polity"  (1844);  "The  History,  Character, 
and  Kesults  of  the  Westminster  Assembly"  (1844); 
"  Hulinii'  Elders"  (1845);  "Rile  of  Coniirmation  " 
(lH4r));  "Union  to  Christ  and  His  Church"  (184fi); 
"The  Unity  of  the  Human  Race"  (1850);  "Young 
iVIen's  Christian  Associations"  (1657);  "The  True 
Oriiiin  and  Source  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  independence,"  and  several  books  of  a  devotional 
nature,  or  relating  to  missions.  Mr.  Smyth  gathered 
a  larii'e  librarv,  received  the  deuree  of  D.I),  from 
Princeton  in  "1843,  and  died  Aug.  20,  1873. 


®ljl0  llohtinc, 


WHICH  IS  PUBLISHED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  MANY  WHO 
HEARD    IT,  IS  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED 


H.    V.    BUTLER,    Esq., 

OF  PATTERSON,  N.  J. 

BV  WHOSE  GENEROSITY  IT  IS  PRESENTED  TO  THE 
PUBLIC. 


PREFACE 


The  following  discourse  was  prepared  by  the  author,  to 
be  delivered  to  his  own  congregation,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
bi-centenary  celebration  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  ,-' 
Divines.  During  his  visit  to  the  North,  he  was  requested  to 
deliver  it  in  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  in  the  First 
Church  in  Charlestown,  in  Patterson,  N.  J.,  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  in  Philadelphia.  On  each  of  these  occasions  the 
author  was  requested  to  publish  it ;  and  when  he  had  re- 
turned home,  he  received  a  generous  request  from  the  gen- 
tleman to  whom  it  is  dedicated,  to  allow  it  to  be  published 
at  his  expense.  To  this  request  he  has  felt  it  his  duty  to 
accede.  Not  that  there  is  any  pretension  in  the  discourse  to 
elegance  of  style,  or  to  great  originality  of  matter.  To  be 
faithful  to  history,  the  facts  must  be,  of  necessity,  such  as 
are  already  acknowledged.  All  that  the  author  claims  is,  to  \ 
have  combined  in  the  discourse  a  general  summary  of  all 
the  information  we  possess  concerning  this  remarkable  As- 
sembly, in  its  origin,  progress,  and  results ;  to  have  shown 
its  relations  to  the  great  struggle  for  religious  and  civil  lib- 
erty which  was  then  going  on  ;  to  have  presented  the  grounds 


X  PREFACE. 

upon  which  it  has  laid  posterity  under  a  debt  of  lasting 
gratitude  ;  and  to  have  offered  some  vindication  of  the  As- 
sembly from  the  charge  of  persecution  and  intolerance. 

All  that  is  expected,  therefore,  from  this  publication  is, 
that  it  may  convey,  in  a  small  compass,  the  most  necessary 
information  on  these  points,  to  some  who  may  not  have  lei- 
sure or  opportunity  to  peruse  more  lengthened  works. 

Should  any  similarity  be  found  in  the  arrangement  of 
this  discourse  and  the  history  of  Mr.  Hetherington,  the  au- 
thor would  statethat,  although  he  has  now  made  some  refer- 
ences to  that  valuable  work,  this  was  written  in  May,  1843, 
and  of  course  months  before  the  appearance  of  the  work 
referred  to. 

Charleston,  S.  C,  September,  1848. 


CONTENTS 


SECTION  I. 


Page 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS,  WITH  A  REVIEW  OF  THE 
CAUSES  WHICH  LED  TO  THE  CALLING  OF  THE 
WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY 13 

SECTION  II. 

THE      NATURE,     HISTORY,     AND      CHARACTER     OF     THE 

WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY 30 

SECTION  III. 

THE    STANDARDS  OF    THE    WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY       .  43 

SECTION  IV. 

THE    POLITICAL   SENTIMENTS    AND   CHARACTER  OF    THE 

WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY    AND    ITS    ADHERENTS  62 

SECTION  V. 

THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  PRESBYTERI- 
ANS OF  THEIR  TIME  VINDICATED  FROM  THE  CHARGE 
OF  PERSECUTION        .......  66 


XU  CONTENTS. 

SECTION  VI. 

Page 

PRESBYTERIANISM  VINDICATED  FROM  THE  CHARGE 
OF  HAVING  GIVEN  ORIGIN  TO  INNUMERABLE  SECTS, 
AND    THE    SUBJECT    CONCLUDED       ....  97 

APPENDIX. 

THE  OBJECTIONS  FOUNDED  UPON  THE  PERSECUTING 
PRINCIPLES  AND  CONDUCT  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIANS 
FURTHER  ANSWERED,  FROM  THE  AUTHOR's  WORK 
ON  "  ECCLESIASTICAL  REPUBLICANISM,"  p.  231 
—239 110 


HISTORY 


WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY. 


SECTION    I. 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS,  WITH  A  REVIEW  OF  THE  CAUSES 
WHICH  LED  TO  THE  CALLING  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER 
ASSEMBLY. 

We  are  on  this  occasion  called  upon,  with  an 
innumerable  multitude  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe, 
and  of  many  different  denominations,  to  celebrate 
the  bicentenary  anniversary  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines.  To  this  body  the  world  is 
indebted  for  those  standards  of  faith  and  practice 
which  have  been  substantially  adopted,  not  only  by 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  all  its  branches,  but  also 

by  the  Congregational    and   Baptist   denominations. 

2 


14  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  return  of  a  second  centennial  anniversary  of  this 
Assembly,  invokes  the  grateful  remembrance  of  all 
who  value  these  standards,  and  the  blessings  of 
religious  and  civil  freedom  with  which  they  have 
become  inseparably  connected.  If  the  clear  defini- 
tion and  establishment  of  those  doctrines  that  are 
of  God,  alike  freed  from  Antinomian  licentiousness 
on  the  one  hand,  and  from  fanatical  extravagance  on 
the  other ;  if  the  preparation  of  standards  which  have 
served  as  bulwarks  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
when  error  and  heresy  have  come  in  like  a  flood  upon 
the  church,  and  which  are  at  this  moment  venerated, 
as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the 
word  of  God,  by  growing  multitudes ;  and  if  a  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  human  rights  which  no  bribery  or  per- 
secution could  extinguish;  if,  I  say,  these  achievements 
are  sufficient  to  demand  our  gratitude,  then  are  we 
imperatively  called  upon  to  hail  with  exultation  this 
natal  day  of  our  spiritual  birthright,  to  consider  the 
days  of  old  and  the  years  of  ancient  times,  and  to  bring 
to  remembrance  the  Westminster  Assembly. 

In  order,  however,  properly  to  appreciate  the  debt 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  15 

of  gratitude  we  owe  to  this  General  Council  of  the 
Church,  and  to  enter  heartily  into  this  commemora- 
tion, we  must  recall  to  mind  the  circumstances  which 
gave  origin  to  this  assembly,*  and  the  nature  and  in- 
fluence of  its  proceedings.  It  will  be  our  object,  there- 
fore, in  this  discourse  to  present  some  general  observa- 
tions relating  to  the  history,  character,  and  results  of 
this  body. 

The  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  is  to  be  re- 
garded both  as  an  effect  and  as  a  cause.  It  was  at 
once  the  result  of  certain  previous  movements,  and 
the  source  of  other  and  momentous  consequences  to 
which  it  gave  occasion.  Itself  the  fruit  of  former 
vegetation,  it  became  the  seed  of  new  productions. 
From  it,  as  a  starting  point,  the  Presbyterian  Church 
commenced  her  glorious  race,  freed  from  the  clogs  and 
hinderances  with  which  she  had  been  long  previously 
bound,  and  is  now  seen  in  all  the  strength  of  growing 
maturity,  pressing  on  towards  the  mark  for  the  prize 

*  See  these  minutely  given  in  the  Preface  toReid's  Lives 
of  the  Divines  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.    Paisley,  1811. 


16  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  her  high  calling;  while  upon  the  foundation  of  its 
doctrinal  standards  millions  build  the  fabric  of  their 
everlasting  hopes.  * 

To  understand  the  causes  which  led  to  the  con- 
vention of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  we  must  go 
back  to  the  era  of  the  English  Reformation  and  trace  the 
history  and  working  of  the  Anglican  hierarchy.  Un- 
like the  Continental  and  Scottish  reforms,  which  were 
originated,  and  sustained,  and  completed  by  the  people, 
the  English  Reformation  was  altogether  a  political 
movement,  and  an  affair  of  state.  It  was  forced  upon 
an  unprepared  and  unenlightened  people,  like  any 
other  matter  of  political  legislation.  Neither  was  it  a 
reformation,  but  rather  an  adaptation  of  the  existing 
hierarchy  to  the  views  and  purposes  of  a  covetous, 
worldly-minded,  and  ambitious  monarch.  While  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope  was  renounced,  the  king  was 
recognized  as  the  head  of  the  church,  and  was  thus 
implicated  in  tliat  usurpation  of  the  royal  prerogative 
of  Christ,  and  in  those  encroachments  on  the  rights 
of  the  church,  which  form  one  of  the  weightiest 
charges  against  the  Roman  Antichrist.    And  while  the 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLV.  17 

people,  in  their  state  of  ignorance,  spurned  from  them 
the  established  religion — as  far  as  they  dared  express 
their  feelings — because  it  was  in  any  way,  and  to  any 
degree  an  alteration  of  the  old,  that  same  people,  when 
fully  instructed  in  the  knowledge  ofthe  gospel,  rejected 
to  a  great  extent  this  same  established  religion,  be- 
cause it  was  but  a  modification  of  the  corrupted  pa- 
pacy, and  altogether  unlike  the  primitive  and  aposto- 
lical church  of  Christ.  It  is  beyond  all  controversy 
certain,  that  had  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  and  the 
laity,  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  possessed  the  liberty  of 
carrying  out  their  views,  the  Church  of  England 
would  have  been  modelled  after  the  same  original 
platform  of  Presbyterian  polity  which  was  preserved 
to  us  in  the  sanctuary  of  truth,  and  universally  adopt- 
ed by  every  other  refornied  church  in  Christendom.* 
Coerced  into  obedience  to  the  powers  that  ruled  over 
them,  and  legislated  into  conformity  by  the  all-con- 
vincing arguments   of  proclamations,  penalties,  im- 

*  See  tlie  author's  Work  on  "  Presbytery,  and  not  Pre- 
lacy, the  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Polity,"  for  proof. 


18  HISTORY    OF    THE 

prisonment,  torture,  infamy,  and  death,  the  people  of 
England  groaned  within  themselves,  being  burdened. 
Having  no  refuge  in  man,  they  sought  relief  in  God, 
into  whose  ear  they  poured  their  complaints,  and  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy 
and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  our  cause,  and  avenge 
our  sufferings  on  them  that  oppress  us?" 

Prelacy  is  a  plain  and  manifest  deviation  from 
the  institutions  of  Christ.  As  such  it  appeared  to  all 
the  reformed  churches,  and  to  a  large  portion  of  the 
English  people.  They  sought,  therefore,  its  removal 
by  an  appeal  to  scriptural  argument  and  authority. 
But  prelacy  had  also  become  identified  with  spiritual 
despotism  and  arbitrary  proceedings.  Secular  power, 
external  violence,  inquisitorial  authority,  and  political 
tyranny,  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  had  long 
been  annexed  to  the  hierarchy,  had  become  charac- 
teristic of  its  conduct,  and  interwoven  with  all  its 
proceedings.  Bishops  were  not  only  lords  spiritual, 
but  also  lords  temporal.  Their  power  extended 
equally  to  the  body  and  the  soul,  and  to  civil  as  well 
as  to  ecclesiastical  penalties.     They  domineered  over 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  19 

all  the  ecclesiastical  rights  of  the  people  in  the  church, 
while  they  lent  themselves  as  the  tools  of  arbitrary 
monarchs  in  the  state.  They  had,  too,  become  pos- 
sessed of  extensive  power,  independent  of  the  crown 
and  parliament ;  a  power  which,  being  based  upon  a 
divine  right  and  thus  beyond  the  reach  of  any  hu- 
man control,  could  be  questioned  only  by  the  voice 
of  blasphemous  impiety.  Their  history  is  filled  with 
treasons,  conspiracies,  and  oppression.*  They  had 
ever  been  found  opposed  to  the  laws  and  liberties  of 

*  The  collected  proofs  of  these  charges,  from  authentic 
sources,  may  be  seen  given  at  length  by  that  learned  and 
persecuted  man,  Counsellor  Prynne,  in  his  "  Antipathie  of 
the  English  Lordly  Prelacy  both  to  regular  Monarchy  and 
civil  Unity :  or  an  Historical  Collection  of  the  several  exe- 
crable Treasons,  Conspiracies,  Rebellions,  Seditions,  State- 
schisms,  Contumacies,  Oppressions,  and  Anti-monarchical 
Practices,  of  our  English,  Brittish,  Frendh,  Scottish,  and  Irish 
Lordly  Prelates,  against  our  Kings,  Kingdomes,  Laws,  Liber- 
ties ;  and  of  the  several  Wars,  and  civil  Dissensions  occa- 
sioned by  them  in,  or  against  our  Realm,  in  former  and 
latter  ages."     London,  1641.  2  vols,  4to. 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  people,  and  to  the  reformation  of  abuses.  Their 
high-handed  proceedings  in  the  Bishops'  courts ; 
their  illegal  powers  as  members  of  the  High  Commis- 
sion ;*  and  the  exorbitant  prerogative  of  the  crown, 
which  they  abetted  and  sustained,  prostrated  all 
freedom,  trampled  upon  the  just  rights  of  the  citizen, 
and  left  men  of  every  quality  and  degree  at  the  mercy 
of  a  rapacious  despotism.! 

This  language  may  appear  strong,  but  it  is  inade- 
quate to  express  the  true  character  of  the  Anglican 

*  By  this  dreadful  tribunal  many  were  reduced  to  utter 
poverty  by  fines,  many  were  imprisoned  till  they  contracted 
fatal  diseases,  others  were  banished,  and  some  were  actually 
sold  for  slaves. 

t  It  was  actually  decided  by  the  twelve  judges  of  the 
Star  Chamber,  "  That  the  King,  having  the  supreme  ecclesi- 
astical power,  could,  without  parliament,  make  orders  and 
constitutions  for  church  government ;  that  the  High  Commis- 
sioner might  enforce  them,  ex  officio,  without  libel ;  and 
that  subjects  might  not  frame  petitions  for  relief  without 
being  guilty  of  an  offence  finable  at  discretion,  and  very 
near  to  treason  and  felony."     Neal,  Vol.  I.  p.  416,  417. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  2:1 

hierarchy.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Leigh- 
ton,  father  of  the  celebrated  Archbishop.  At  the 
instigation  of  Laud,  and  upon  the  charge  of  hav- 
ing published  a  book  against  prelacy  ! — he  was  thrown 
into  prison,  where  he  lay  in  a  filthy  cell  infested 
with  vermin  for  fifteen  weeks,  so  that  when  served 
with  his  libel  his  hair  and  skin  had  come  off  his 
body,  and  he  was  so  reduced  in  strength  as  to  be 
^unable  to  appear  at  the  bar.  This,  however,  made 
no  difference.  Untried  and  unheard  he  was  con- 
demned to  suffer  the  following  sentence,  on  hearing 
which  pronounced.  Laud,  we  arc  told,  "pulled  off 
his  cap  and  gave  God  thanks."  "  The  horrid  sen- 
tence," says  the  sufferer  in  his  petition  to  parliament 
some  years  afterwards,  "  was  to  be  inflicted  with 
knife,  sword,  fire,  and  whip,  at  and  upon  the  pillory, 
with  ten  thousand  pounds  fine ;  which  some  of  the 
lords  of  court  conceived  could  never  be  inflicted,  but 
only  that  it  was  imposed  on  a  dying  man  to  terrify 
others.  But  Laud  and  his  creatures  caused  the  sen- 
tence to  be  executed  with  a  witness  ;    for  the  hang- 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE 

man  was  animated  all  the  night  before,  with  strong 
drink  in  the  prison,  and  with  threatening  words,  to 
do  it  cruelly.  Your  petitioner's  hands  being  tied  to 
a  stake,  besides  all  other  torments,  he  received  thirty- 
six  stripes  with  a  treble  cord,  after  which  he  stood 
almost  two  hours  in  the  pillory  in  cold,  frost,  and 
snow,  and  then  suffered  the  rest,  as  cutting  off  the  ear, 
firing  the  face,  and  slitting  up  the  nose.  He  was 
made  a  spectacle  of  misery  to  men  and  angels.  And 
on  that  day  seven  nights,  the  sores  upon  his  back, 
ears,  nose  and  face,  not  being  cured,  he  was  again 
whipped  at  the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  and  then  had 
the  remainder  of  the  sentence  executed  by  cutting  off 
the  other  ear,  slitting  up  the  other  nostril,  and  brand- 
ing the  other  cheek !" 

Similar  punishments  were  inflicted  on  Counsellor 
Prynne,  Dr.  Bastwick,  and  Dr.  Burton,  and  for  the 
same  atrocious  crime  of  having  written  against  the 
prelacy ! 

In  short,  "  the  Church  of  England  continued 
under  the  Stuarts  what  she  had  become  under  the 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  23 

Tudors :  a  submissive  slave  to  the  higher  ranks,  a 
tyrant  to  the  lower."*  And  the  portentous  re-ap- 
pearance, at  the  present  time,  and  in  our  own  coun- 
try as  well  as  in  England,  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ple,— the  prelatical  doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succes- 
sion,— from  which  these  results  followed,  may  well 
excite  alarm ;  embodying,  as  it  does,  the  very  es- 
sence of  despotism,  civil  and  religious,  and  possess- 
ing an  energy  that  nothing  human  can  control  with- 
out a  struggle,  wide,  wasting,  and  deadly,  too  fearful 
even  to  be  imagined.! 

Nor  v^fLs  this  all.  While  prelacy  had  become 
identified,  as  was  believed,  with  despotic  cruelty  and 
injustice,  an  event  occurred  which  awakened  the 
whole  people  of  Britain  to  a  full  perception  of  their 
awful   condition,  and  still  more  fearful  prospects, — 

*  Hoffman's  Anglo-Priiss-ian  Bishopric,  p.  28. 

t  Hatherington,  Hist,  of  Wcstm.  Ass.,  p.  50  Sec  abun- 
dant proofs  of  tiie  intolerant  tendencies  and  results  of  tliis 
doctrine  botli  in  England  and  America,  in  the  author's  Lec- 
tures on  the  Prelatical  doctrine  of  the  Apostolical  Succession, 
Lecture  XHF. 


24  HISTORY    OF    THE 

I  allude  to  the  horrible  massacre  of  the  Irish  Protest- 
ants, by  the  Roman  Catholics.  Taught  to  believe 
that  by  putting  heretics  to  death  they  would  merit  ■ 
favor  at  the  hands  of  God,  these  deluded  men  received 
the  sacrament  before  commencing  the  work  of  car- 
nage, and  swore  before  high  heaven  that  they  would 
not  leave  a  Protestant  alive  in  the  whole  kingdom. 
For  many  months,  nay,  with  some  little  intermis- 
sion, for  two  years,  the  country  was  a  scene  of  the 
most  unparalleled  atrocities.  No  mercy  was  shown 
to  age,  or  rank,  or  sex.  Men,  women,  and  even 
children,  became  the  executioners  of  helplfess  victims, 
and  everywhere  perpetrated  the  most  execrable  atro- 
cities. Suffice  it  to  say,  that  according  to  some 
writers  not  less  than  300,000  Protestants  were  sacri- 
ficed to  glut  the  ferocious  appetite  of  Popery.* 
Neither  can  King  Charles  be  altogether  freed  from 
the  charge  of  having  connived  at,  if  he  did  not  pro- 
mote, this  infamous  treachery.  Certain  it  is,  that 
*  See  on  this  subject  the  various  calculations  as  given  in 
Dr.  Reid's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland. 
Vol.  I.  p.  336,  337. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  25 

the  object  avowed  by  the  Papists  was  the  subjuga- 
tion of  the  English  parliament  and  the  Scottish  army ; 
the  support  of  the  king  in  his  struggle  for  arbitrary 
power,  and  the  more  complete  enslavement  of  the 
British  nation.* 

*  The  Royal  Commission  from  Charles  I.  for  the  move- 
ments of  1641 ,  has  been  strenuously  denied.  The  evidence  of 
its  reality  seems,  however,  beyond  controversy.  The  evidence 
may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : — (1.)  The  Royal  Commission 
was  published  by  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  himself,  in  his  procla- 
mation from  Newry,  1641,  (2.)  It  was  reprinted  in  the 
'■'■Mysttric  c^ Iniquitij,"  1643.  (3.)  In  '■'■  Viccar' s  Parliamentary 
Chronicle;'  1646.  (4.)  In  Milton's  Works,  1698.  And  those 
who  desire  to  sec  the  genuineness  of  the  Commission  fully 
canvassed,  may  consult  Brodie,  Vol.  III.  p.  190-9  ;  and  God- 
win, Vol.  I.  p.  225-30.  (5.)  Even  Reilly,  a  stanch  Ro- 
manist, admits  that  Lords  Auburn  and  Osmond  were  in- 
structed by  Charles  to  seize  the  castle  of  Dublin,  the  lords 
justices,  &c.,  and  that  Sir  Phelim  merely  endeavoured  to 
have  the  first  hand  in  the  work.  (6.)  The  declaration  of 
the  commons,  July  25,  1642,  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  there 
was  a  plot  between  the  queen  and  the  Irish  Papists,  and  that 
the  king  knew  of  it. 


26  HISTORY    OP    THE 

By  these,  and  other  similar  causes,  which  time 
will  not  permit  us  to  detail,  the  public  mind  was 
led  to  regard  prelacy  as  equally  dangerous  to  the 
religion,  liberties,  and  peace  of  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  thus  to  desire  the  complete  extirpation  of  the 
hierarchy.  The  controversy  respecting  high-church- 
ism,  which  had  hitherto  been  carried  on  by  the 
Puritans  on  religious  grounds,  was  now,  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  prelates,  forced  to  assume  the  character 
of  a  defence  of  civil  liberty.  The  floodgates  of 
the  popular  mind  were  opened.  The  subject  of 
church  government  became  the  all-engrossing  topic 
of  the  day,  and,  from  its  close  connection  with  public 
affairs,  a  national  question.  Within  a  period  of  twenty 
years  no  fewer  than  30,000  pamphlets  were  issued 
on  this  subject.  Feeling  ran  deeper  every  day  against 
the  prelates,  until,  by  the  disclosures  brought  out 
upon  the  trial  of  Archbishop  Laud,  it  burst  forth  in 
ungovernable  fury,  and  demanded  their  removal  from 

office. 

The  commons,  therefore,  having  been  petitioned 

to  that  effect  by  the  London  ministers,  in  their  grand 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  27 

remonstrance,  presented  in  1641,  urged  the  necessity 
of  a  free  synod,  to  take  into  consideration,  and 
remove  the  grievances  of  the  church.  In  the  treaty 
of  Oxford  a  bill  was  offered  to  the  same  purpose  and 
rejected.  Some  time  after,  Dr.  Burgess,  at  the  head 
of  the  Puritan  clergy,  again  applied  to  parliament  for 
the  same  purpose.  At  length  an  ordinance  was 
passed  by  the  parliament  in  June,  1643,  convening  an 
assembly  by  their  own  authority.  In  this  ordinance 
they  say,  "  Whereas,  among  the  infinite  blessings  of 
Almighty  God  upon  this  nation,  none  is,  or  can  be, 
more  clear  to  us  than  the  purity  of  our  religion  ; 
and  for  that  as  yet  many  things  remain  in  the  liturgy, 
discipline,  and  government  of  the  church,  which  do 
necessarily  require  a  further  and  more  perfect 
reformation,  than  as  yet  hath  been  obtained ;  and 
whereas  it  hath  been  declared  and  resolved  by  the 
lords  and  commons  assembled  in  parliament,  that 
the  present  church  government,  by  archbishops, 
bishops,  their  chancellors,  commissars,  deans,  and 
chapters,  arch-deacons,  and  other  ecclesiastical  ofli- 
cers,  depending  upon  the  hierarchy,  is  evil  and  justly 


28  HISTORY    OF    Tlin 

offensive  and  burdensome  to  the  kingdom,  a  great 
impediment  to  reformation  and  growth  of  religion,  and 
very  prejudicial  to  the  state  and  government  of  this 
kingdom ;  therefore  they  are  resolved,  that  the  same 
shall  be  taken  away,  and  that  such  a  government 
shall  be  settled  in  the  church  as  may  be  most  agree- 
able to  God's  holy  word,  and  most  apt  to  procure  and 
preserve  the  peace  of  the  church  at  home,  and  nearer 
agreement  with  the  Church  of  Scotland  and  other 
reformed  churches  abroad  ;  and  for  the  better  effecting 
hereof,  and  for  the  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  from  all  false 
calumnies  and  aspersions,  it  is  thought  fit  and  neces- 
sary to  call  an  assembly  of  learned,  godly,  and  judi- 
cious divines,  who,  together  with  some  members  of 
both  houses  of  parliament,  are  to  consult  and  advise 
of  such  matters  and  things,  touching  the  premises, 
as  shall  be  proposed  unto  them,  by  both  or  either 
houses  of  parliament,  and  to  give  their  council  and 
advice  therein  to  both  or  either  of  said  houses, 
when,  and  so  often,  as  they  shall  be  thereunto 
required." 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  29 

The  language  and  spirit  of  this  ordinance  will 
be  considered  as  justly  marvellous,  when  it  is  recol- 
lected, that  this  very  parliament  was  composed  of 
persons  who  had  been  almost  to  a  man  Episcopalians, 
and  attached  to  Episcopal  government ;  men,  too, 
possessed  of  great  and  plentiful  fortunes ;  and,  as 
Clarendon,  who  states  these  facts,  allows,  of  great 
gravity  and   wisdom.* 

*  Clarendon,  Vol.  I.,  p.  184.  M'Crie's  Scottish  Church 
Hist.  p.  275.  "  As  to  religion,"  says  Clarendon,  "  they  were 
all  members  of  the  Established  Church,  and  almost  to  a  man 
for  Episcopal  government." 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE 


SECTION    II. 

THE    NATURE,    HISTORY,    AND    CHARACTER  OF    THE    WESTMIN- 
STER   ASSEMBLY. 

The  Assembly  was  to  consist  of  ten  lords,  twenty 
commoners,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  minis- 
ters ;  in  all,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  mem- 
bers. In  accordance  with  what  we  have  stated,  as  it 
regards  the  ecclesiastical  views  of  the  parliament,  the 
members  chosen  to  constitute  this  Assembly  were, 
almost  all,  such  as  had  till  then  conformed  to  the 
Established  Church  of  England.*     From   the  fact 

*  In  their  answer  to  the  reasons  given  by  the  Episcopal 
divines  for  witlidrawing  from  tlie  body,  the  assembly  answer 
the  charge  that  "  tlie  divines  were  for  the  most  part  of  a 
puritanical  stamp  and  enemies  to  the  hierarchy,"  by  saying, 
"the  divines,  except  the  Scots  and  French,  were  in  Episco- 
pal orders,  educated  in  our  own  universities,  and  most  of 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  31 

that  it  was  convened  at  Westminster,  in  the  Abbey 
Church,  it  has  been  denominated  the  Westminster 
Assembly.  And  forasmuch  as  it  was  not  called  by 
ecclesiastical  authority,  or  according  to  any  fixed 
rules  of  ecclesiastical  procedure,  but  by  the  authority 
of  parliament,  it  is  styled  an  Assembly,  and  not  a 
Convocation  or  Synod.  It  was  designed  to  be  an 
ecclesiastical  advisory  council,  to  aid  and  assist  the 
parliament  in  the  determinations  of  religious  ques- 
tions. It  was  thus  identified  with  the  national  legis- 
lature and  became  a  part  of  that  body,  or  rather  its 
ecclesiastical  cabinet.*  All  its  members  were  chosen  , 
by   the    parliament,   who   selected   two    from   each 

them  graduates."  Neal's  Hist,  of  Puritans,  Vol.  III.  49. 
"  Those  who  made  up  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  who 
were  the  honour  of  the  parliamentary  party  throughout  the 
land,  were  almost  all  such  as  had  till  then  conformed." 
Orme's  Life  of  Baxter,  Vol.  I.  p.  35. 

*  In  the  answer  of  the  Assembly  to  the  Episcopal  divines 
they  say,  "  This  being  not  designed  fur  a  legal  convocation, 
but  for  a  council  to  the  parliament  in  the  reformation  of  the 
church."     Neal,  III.  49. 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE 

county,  and  in  addition  to  these,  some  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  the  age,  such  as  Archbishop  Usher, 
Dr.  Holdsworth,  Dr.  Hammond,  Dr.  Wincop,  Bishops 
Westfield,  and  Prideaux,  and  many  more.*  Parlia- 
ment also  drew  up  the  rules  by  which  in  all  their 
deliberations  they  were  to  be  directed  and  governed, 
and  the  solemn  oath  or  protestation  which  was  to  be 
taken  by  every  member  of  the  body.  The  Assembly, 
therefore,  had  no  independent  existence  or  authority. 
I^ts  members  were  sworn  to  "make  good  out  of  Scrip- 
ture what  any  man  undertook  to  prove,"  and  "  to 
maintain  nothing  in  matters  of  doctrine,  but  what 
they  thought  in  their  conscience  to  be  truth ;  or  in 
point  of  discipline  but  what  should  conduce  most  to 
the  glory  of  God,  and  to  the  good  and  peace  of  the 
church."  They  could  not,  however,  enforce  any 
thing  by  their  own  power,  as  either  true  or  obliga- 
tory.    All  their  productions  are  entitled,  "  The  hum- 


*  A  few  of  the  royalist  Episcopal  divines  at  first  met 
with  the  Assembly,  but  afterwards  withdrew  when  the 
king  had  prohibited  their  meeting. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  33 

ble  advice  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  by  authority  of 
parliament  sitting  at  Westminster  concerning,"  &c. 
&-C.*  The  ecclesiastical  authority  noio  attached  to 
the  Westminster  Assembly's  standards,  arises  solely 
from  their  adoption  by  the  various  bodies  who  have 
received  them  as  their  own,  while  their  intrinsic 
validity  is  based  upon  the  word  of  God,  on  which  they 
are  exclusively  founded.  The  Assembly  was  but  a 
component  part  of  the  most  celebrated  of  all  parlia- 
ments— a  wheel  within  a  wheel — one  band  of  actors 
in  that  glorious  drama  which  will  ever  attract  the 
admiration  and  excite  the  reverence  of  mankind. 
By  obeying  the  summons  of  the  parliament,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly,  at  once  and  forever,  committed 
themselves  to  the  cause  of  the  people  against  their 
tyrannical  oppressor  ;  braved  the  fury  of  an  incensed 
monarch,  who  had  openly  denounced  their  meeting 
as  traitorous,  and  pledged  their  lives,  property,  and 

*  Of  these  I  possess  copies  in  the  original  editions.  I 
have  also  ten  4to  volumes  of  the  discourses  they  delivered  be- 
fore the  parliament 


34  HISTORY    OP    THE 

sacred  honour,  to  the  support  of  liberty  and  truth.* 
The  volcanic  fires  which  had  long  been  burning  in 
secret  had  now  burst  forth,  and  filled  the  land  with 
civil  commotion.  To  these  divines  was  given  the 
hazardous  but  honourable  duty  to  direct  the  whirlwind 
and  the  storm  which  were  then  raging,  and  if  possi- 
ble to  suggest  such  measures  as  might  reduce  their 
conflicting  elements  to  order  and  harmony.  By  the 
merits  of  that  struggle,  which  was  then  commenced 
in  desperate  earnestness,  must  this  Assembly  be  now 
tested.  Was  it  a  traitorous  rebellion  against  lawful 
power  and  the  heaven-appointed  insolence  of  des- 
pots?— then  were  they  accessories  to  the  nefarious 
plot,  and   base  hypocrites  in  the   sight  of  heaven. 

*  In  their  answer  to  the  Episcopal  divines,  who  alleged 
that  the  Assembly  were  not  authorized  by  the  king,  they 
replied,  "  that  the  constitution  at  present  was  dissolved ;  that 
there  were  two  sovereign  contending  parties  in  the  nation  ; 
and  if  the  war  in  which  the  parliament  was  engaged  was 
just  and  necessary,  they  might  assume  this  branch  of  the 
prerogative,  till  the  nation  was  settled,  as  well  as  any  other  " 
Neal,  Vol.  III.  p.  4[) 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  35 

But  was  that  outburst  of  freedom  "  the  commence'- 
mentof  all  true  liberty,  public  and  personal,"  and  the 
birth-day  of  a  nation's  rights? — then  are  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Westminster  Assembly  to  be  held  in  ever- 
lasting remembrance. 

The  Assembly  continued  to  act  and  deliberate 
till  1648-9,  about  three  weeks  after  the  king's  death, 
having  sat  five  years,  six  months,  and  twenty-two  days, 
during  which  time  they  had  eleven  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  sessions.  They  were  still  employed  after  that 
time,  as  a  committee  for  the  examination,  ordination, 
and  induction  of  ministers,  till  March  25th,  1652, 
when  the  long  parliament  being  turned  out  of  the 
house  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  they  also  broke  up  with- 
out any  formal  dissolution.  They  thus  rose  and  fell 
with  the  long  parliament,  and  were  buried  with  it  in 
the  same  grave  of  constitutional  liberty. 

The  Westminster  Assembly  was  a  congregation 
of  the  most  wise,  pious,  liberal  and  learned  spirits  of 
the  age.^  \  "The  divines  there  congregated,"  says 
Baxter,  '^ere  men  of  eminent  learning,  godliness, 
ministerial  abilities,  and  fidelity,  and  being  not  worthy 


v 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  be  one  myself,  I  may  the  more  freely  speak  the  truth, 
even  in  the  face  of  malice  and  envy ;  that  as  far  as  I 
am  able  to  judge  by  the  information  of  all  history  of 
that  kind,  and  by  any  other  evidence  left  us,  the  Chris- 
tian world,  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  had  never  a 
Synod  of  more  excellent  divines  than  this,  and  the 
Synod  of  Dort."  "  For  personal  integrity,  ministerial 
diligence,  and  general  scholarship,  the  Wesminster 
Assembly,"  says  Dr.  Price,  who  is  warmly  opposed 
to  presbyterianism,  "  has  never  been  surpassed  by  any 
ecclesiastical  assemblage."*  Let  any  one  examine 
the  list  of  its  members,  and  he  will  find  among  them 
the  most  considerable  lawyers  and  divines  of  a  most 
remarkable  age. 

The  names  of  Lightfoot,  Gataker,  Greenhill,  Ar- 
rowsmith,  Twisse,  Reynolds  (afterwards  bishop). 
Burgess,  Bolton,  Burroughs,  Calamy,  Caryl,  Godwin, 
Hildersham,  Marshal,  Scudder,  Vines,  Wallis,  Hen- 
derson, Gillespie,  Rutherford,  Baillie,  and  many  others, 
are  among   the  most  illustrious  in  English  history, 

*  Dr.  Price's  Hist  .of  Non.  Conf.  Vol.  II.  p.  248. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  37 

and  will  never  be  undervalued  in  the  learned  world. 
Selden,  also,  among  the  lay  members,  and  Prynne, 
the  great  Presbyterian  advocate  in  the  parliament, 
were  prodigies  of  learning,  and  their  works  treasuries 
of  erudition. 

In  fact  all  the  members  were  men  of  distinction, 
and  while  Cajetan,  who  was  reputed  to  be  the  most 
learned  man  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  knew  not  a 
word  of  Hebrew,*  many  of  these  divines  were  emi- 
nent for  their  acquirements  in  Hebrew,  and  in  Tal- 
mudical,  classical,  and  oriental  literature.    Their  de- 

*  "^Neither  was  there  amongst  these  prelates  any  one  re- 
markable for  learning;  some  of  them  were  lawyers,  perhaps 
learned  in  that  profession,  but  of  little  understanding  in  reli- 
gion ;  few  divines,  but  of  less  than  ordinary  sufficiency ;  the 
greater  number  gentlemen  or  courtiers  ;  and  for  their  digni- 
ties some  were  only  titular,  and  the  major  part  bishops  of  so 
small  cities,  that,  supposing  every  one  to  represent  his  peo- 
ple, it  could  not  be  said  that  one  of  a  thousand  in  Christen- 
dom was  represented.  But  particularly  of  Germany,  that 
there  was  not  so  much  as  one  bishop  or  divine."  Father 
Paul,  p.  153. 

3 


38  HISTORY    OF    THK 

bates,  which  were  sometimes  continued  for  months 
upon  a  single  point,  were  regular  scholastic  discus- 
sions. An  appeal  was  continually  made  to  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew  originals,  to  the  analogy  of  faith,  and 
to  the  opinions  of  the  Rabbinical  doctors  and  early 
fathers.  In  these  branches  of  study  some  of  them 
attained  an  eminence,  which,  if  ever  it  has  been 
equalled,  has  certainly  never  been  excelled.  They 
still  shine  forth,  with  singular  glory,  as  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude.  Besides  the  discussions  of  the 
Assembly,  which  occupied  their  forenoons,  and  those 
of  the  committee,  which  filled  up  theii*  afternoons, 
the  members  were  many  of  them  employed  in  pre- 
paring dissertations  for  the  parliamentary  discourses 
and  other  works  of  great  extent,  erudition,  and 
learning.  When  the  universities  were  deserted,  in 
consequence  of  the  removal  of  the  adherents  of  the 
king,  their  places  were  filled  with  incumbents 
selected  chiefly  from  among  the  members  of  this  As- 
sembly. And  while  many  have  asserted  that  the 
reputation  of  these  universities  was  sadly  diminished 
by  their  new  professors,  the  very  contrary  is  the  truth 


WESTMINSTEK    ASSEMBLY.  39 

in  the  case.  Learning,  religion,  and  good  sense  pre- 
vailed to  a  much  greater  extent  at  the  Restoration, 
than  before  the  civil  wars,  in  both  these  seats  of 
learning.  All  the  eminent  philosophers  and  divines, 
who  ^Jid  so  much  honour  to  their  country  in  the  three 
succeeding  reigns — the  Tillotsons,  Stillingfleets,  Pat- 
ricks, Souths,  Caves,  Sprats,  Kidders,  Whitbys,  Bulls, 
Boyles,  Newtons,  and  Lockes — were  educated  by 
these  very  professors.  And  if,  as  is  always  allowed, 
the  glory  of  the  scholar  illustrates  the  character  of 
his  teacher,  we  may  at  once  perceive  how  pre-emi- 
nently qualified  these  men  were  to  be  the  tutors  of 
the  greatest  geniuses  that  have  ever  adorned  humanity. 
In  foreign  countries,  also,  the  reputation  of  these 
universities  was  at  this  time  very  high  ;  while  the 
number  of  learned  performances  which  they  produced 
was  as  great  as  during  any  former  period.*  Never 
certainly  was  the  standard  of  ministerial  qualifica- 
tions placed  higher  than  by  these  divines.  "  The 
languages,  Greek    and    Hebrew,    are,"  they  urged, 

*  Neal  III.  400. 


40  HISTORY    OF    THE 

"  necessary  to  understand  the  original  text,  and  derive 
our  doctrine  from  tlie  fresh  and  pure  fountains.    The 
Latin  is  also  needful,  that  we  may  the  better  receive 
the  benefits  of  the  gifts   given  to   the  fathers    and 
writers  of  former  ages,  (for  all  gifts  are  given  by  God 
to  profit  the  church  Avithal,)  but  also  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences."     After  showing 
how  the  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences  contri- 
bute to  the  usefulness  of  the  ministry,  and  how  a  learn- 
ed ministry  has  been  in  all  ages  the  bulwark  of  the 
church  against  heretics  and  errorists,  they  conclude 
that  "  therefore  the  enemies  of  a  learned  ministry  are 
the  friends  of  popery  and  all  heresies,  of  ignorance 
and  blindness,  and  the  enemies  of  the  truth  and  gos- 
pel, of  the  light  and  comfort  of  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ."*     The  fruits  of  these  principles  and  labours 
we  find  in  that  harvest  of  nonconforming  ministers 
who  filled  the  churches  at  the  period  of  the  Restora- 
tion, of  whom  two   thousand  in   England,  between 

*  Sec  Byficld's  (a  member  of  the  Assemblj)  Short  Trea- 
tise describing  the  Church  of  Christ.  London,  1653,  p.  26,  27. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  41 

three  and  four  thousand  in  Scotland,  and  sixty  out  of 
sixty-five  in  Ireland,  gave  up  their  livings  rather  than 
abandon  principle ;  of  whom  the  world  was  not  wor- 
thy ;  whose  works  of  piety  and  devotion  will  ever 
constitute  the  staple  productions  of  our  Christian 
literature ;  and  of  whom  we  have  a  noble  succession 
in  those  five  hundred  Presbyterian  clergymen  and  two 
hundred  licentiates  and  students  in  divinity  in  Scot- 
land, who  have  now  taken  joyfully  the  spoiling  of 
their  goods,  and  suffered  even  unto  poverty,  in  their 
glorious  contest  for  the  truth  and  honour  of  the  gospel. 
Howe  and  Charnock,  Bates  and  Heyward,  and  a  host 
of  other  worthies,  exemplify  the  character  of  these 
divines,  and  the  truth  of  these  observations.  Without 
the  works  of  many  of  these  divines,  no  theological 
library  could  be  complete,  since  they  contain  treatises 
on  various  subjects,  which  are  regarded  as  incompar- 
ably the  best  in  the  English  language. 

Neither  is  this  character  of  the  divines  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  rendered  in  any  degree  ques- 
tionable by  the  baseless  calumnies  of  Clarendon,  or 
the  revengeful  vituperation  of  Milton.     By  their  de- 


42  HISTORY    OF    THE 

nuiiciation  of  Milton's  work  on  divorce,  which  led  to 
his  being  brought  before  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
by  their  steady  opposition  to  the  constitutional  pro- 
ceedings of  his  master  Cromwell,  they  excited  the 
deep  and  keen  anger  of  his  fierce  antagonist.  In 
this,  however,  Milton  only  proved  his  own  incon- 
sistency, and  reflected  discredit,  not  on  the  Assem- 
bly, but  upon  himself.  For  that  very  work  on 
divorce  had  been  dedicated  by  him  to  this  very 
Assembly.  In  this  dedication,  after  they  had  been 
in  session  for  two  years,  he  denominates  them  "  a 
select  Assembly"  "of  so  much  piety  and  wisdom," 
"  a  learned  and  memorable  Synod,  in  which  piety, 
learning,  and  prudence  were  housed."  The  hireling 
defamer  of  political  opponents,  and  the  enraged 
avenger  of  a  private  quarrel,  are  neither  of  them 
therefore  entitled  to  vilify  a  large  and  respectable 
Assembly,  whose  character  is  otherwise  so  undoubt- 
edly established.* 

'  See  Oriue"s  Life  of  Baxter,  p.  71. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  43 


SECTION    IIi: 

THE    STANDARDS  OF    THE    WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY. 

But  great  as  were  these  men  in  natural  genius, 
and  eminent  as  tliey  were  in  acquirement  and  in 
their  literary  and  theological  publications,  it  is  as  the 
authors  of  those  standards  which  were  the  fruits  of 
their  five  years'  deliberations,  that  they  most  power- 
fully claim  our  reverence.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
Confession  of  Faith.  We  have  stated  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly  had  been  almost  to  a  man  Epis- 
copalians, or  at  least  conformists.  The  first  object 
of  the  Assembly  was  not  therefore  to  overthrow,  but 
to  alter  and  improve,  the  existing  system  of  polity 
and  doctrine.  Accordingly,  one  of  their  first  acts 
was  to  divide  their  whole  body  into  three  committees, 
to  each  of  which  was  distributed  a  certain  number  of 
the  articles  of  the   English  Church.     After  having 


44  HISTORY    OF    THE  * 

spent  ten  weeks  in  the  revision  of  the  first  fifteen 
articles,  they  were  arrested  in  their  proceedings  by 
an  order  at  once  to  frame  a  Directory  for  public  wor- 
ship ;  and  as  it  was  afterwards  thought  that  unifor- 
mity would  be  better  promoted  by  constructing  a 
new  Confession,  the  further  amendment  of  the  thirty- 
nine  Articles  was  dropped.  A  committee  was  there- 
fore appointed  to  this  work  in  May,  1645,  who  pre- 
sented the  complete  Confession  in  November,  1046, 
which  after  being  reviewed  and  amended  was  pub- 
lished in  May,  1647.  The  outline  of  this  work 
would  appear  to  have  originated  with  Alexander 
Henderson,  the  leader  of  what  is  termed  the  Second 
Scottish  Reformation,  who  had  been  appointed  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  Scotland  in  1641  to  draw 
up  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  Catechism,  a  Directory 
for  all  parts  of  public  worship,  and  a  Platform  of 
Government,  and  who  was  a  commissioner  to  the 
Westminster  Assembly.  In  June,  1648,  the  two 
houses  of  Lords  and  Commons  having  gone  over  the 
whole,  article  by  article,  ordered  it  to  be  published 
under  the  title  of"  Articles  of  Religion  approved  and 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  45 

passed  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  after  advice  had 
with  an  Assembly  of  Divines  called  together  by  them 
for  that  purpose."  The  whole  Confession  being  im- 
mediately transmitted  to  Scotland,  was  received  with 
approbation  by  both  the  General  Assembly  and  Par- 
liament, and  has  continued  to  be  the  established  doc- 
trine of  the  Church  of  Scotland  until  this  day,  and 
of  all  the  Presbyterian  churches  founded  by  her  in 
England,  Ireland,  America,  and  all  other  parts  of  the 
world.  This  Confession  has  been  embodied  almost 
verbatim  in  the  Confession  adopted  by  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  at  the  Savoy  Conference,  in  their  Cam- 
bridge and  Saybrook  platforms,  and  in  the  Confessions 
of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  and  other  New- 
England  churches  ;  and  also  by  the  Calvinistic 
Baptists. 

The  next  work  completed  by  the  Assembly  was 
the  reduction  of  the  substance  of  this  Confession  into 
the  form  of  Catechisms  ;  one  called  "  The  Larger," 
for  the  groundwork  of  a  public  exposition  in  the  pul- 
pit, according  to  the  custom  of  the  foreign  churches ; 

and  the  other  "  The  Shorter,"  for  the  instruction  of 
3* 


46  HISTORY    OF    THE 

children  in  the  principal  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
religion.  The  Shorter  Catechism  was  presented  to 
parliament  in  November,  1647,  and  the  Larger  in 
April,  1648.  These  works  are  beyond  all  praise. 
To  those  who  recognize  the  system  of  doctrine  they 
contain  as  being  that  taught  in  the  word  of  God,  they 
must  be  allowed  to  be,  next  to  the  Bible,  the  most 
complete  and  perfect  summaries  of  evangelical  truth 
that  exist ;  most  admirable  in  their  arrangement ; 
simple  and  scriptural  in  their  language ;  comprehen- 
sive in  their  details,  and  masterly  in  their  whole  con- 
struction. They  are,  in  short,  perfect  systems  of 
divinity.  Beginning  with  a  general  introduction, 
illustrative  of  the  great  end  of  man's  creation  and  the 
only  infallible  standard  of  faith  and  practice,  they 
are  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first  division  ex- 
plains what  we  are  to  believe  concerning  God  in 
himself  considered,  and  in  his  doings  towards  the 
human  race,  in  their  creation,  fall,  and  redemption. 
The  second  division  embraces  the  duty  which  God 
requires  of  man  ;  in  which  is  given  a  full  explanation 
of  the  moral  law  as  contained  in  the  Ten  Command- 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY,  47 

ments ;  and  the  special  duties  arising  from  the  gos- 
pel dispensation,  such  as  faith,  repentance,  the  dili- 
gent use  of  the  means  of  grace  and  prayer,  as  illus- 
trated in  the  general  summary  of  "  The  Lord's 
Prayer."  To  these  catechisms,  millions  are  indebted 
for  their  theological  knowledge,  for  their  saving 
piety,  and  for  their  preservation  from  dangerous  here- 
sies and  errors ;  while  to  them,  under  God,  must  our 
church  trace  her  deliverance  from  many  a  dangerous 
onset,  and  her  present  establishment  in  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints. 

The  next  work  of  the  Assembly  was  the  one 
which  gave  rise  to  the  greatest  debates — that  is,  the 
Form  of  Government.  At  first  no  more  was  thought 
of  than  such  a  modified  form  of  episcopacy  as  would 
remove  the  evils  consequent  upon  the  hierarchy.  But 
when  the  views  of  the  Scottish  divines  were  presented 
and  most  elaborately  discussed,  and  a  full  knowledge 
was  obtained  of  the  working,  efficiency,  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Presbyterian  system,  as  practised  in  the 
reformed  churches,  the  great  majority  of  the  Assem- 
bly, Episcopalians  though  thri/  had  been,  were  led  to 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE 

approve  of  Presbytery  as  the  system  of  polity  insti- 
tuted by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  They  all,  except 
about  eight  Independents,  (who  differed  as  to  the 
second  point,)  adopted  as  of  divine  right  "the  two 
radical  principles  of  Presbyterial  church  government, 
the  PARITY  OF  MINISTERS  of  the  Gospel,  or 
the  identity  of  Bishops  and  Presbyters ;  and  the  regu- 
lation of  all  matters  in  the  church  by  the  counsel 
and  will  of  the  whole  body,  or  their  representatives, 
which  comprehends  the  subordination  of  inferior  to 
superior  judicatories." 

Even  the  Congregationalists  in  the  Assembly  em- 
braced almost  every  thing  in  this  work,  and  had 
actually  agreed  to  a  compromised  view  upon  which 
both  parties  would  have  been  harmoniously  united, 
but  for  the  political  influence  of  Cromwell,  for  whose 
interest  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be  kept 
divided.*     This  form  of  government,  however,  was 

*  "  They  both  admitted  the  same  orders  of  office-bearers 
in  the  church,  though  the  Independents  would  have  recog- 
nized more  than  the  Presbyterians  thought  either  necessary 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  49 

never  fully  approved  by  the  parliament,  owing  to  the 
increased  influence  of  the   Independents,   Erastian, 

or  commanded  in  Scripture  ;  and  they  differed  little  in  tlieir 
opinions  respecting  the  powers  properly  inherent  in  congre- 
gations." (Hetherington,  p.  165.)  Mr.  Nye,  the  leader  of  the 
Independents,  admitted  that  they  held  classical  and  synodi- 
cal  meetings  very  useful  and  profitable,  yea,  possibly  agree- 
able to  the  institution  of  Christ;  but  the  question  is  this, 
whether  these  meetings  have  the  same  power  that  ecclesia 
prima,  or  one  single  congregation  has  .''  (Lightfoot,  p.  144.) 
The  compromise  above  alluded  to,  was  brought  in  by  a  com- 
mittee raised  for  the  purpose,  and  composed  of  Messrs.  Sea- 
man, Vines,  Palmer,  Marshall,  Godwin,  Nye,  Burroughs, 
and  Bridge,  together  with  the  four  Scottish  divines,  and  was 
as  follows  :  "1.  That  there  be  a  presbytery,  or  meeting  of 
the  elders  of  many  neighbouring  congregations,  to  consult 
upon  such  things  as  concern  those  congregations  in  matters 
ecclesiastical ;  and  such  presbyteries  are  the  ordinances  of 
Christ,  having  his  power  and  authority.  2.  Such  presbyte- 
ries have  power  in  cases  that  are  to  come  before  them,  to 
declare  and  determine  doctrinally  what  is  agreeable  to  God's 
word;  and  this  judgment  of  theirs  is  to  be  received  with 
reverence  and   obligation  as  Clirist's  ordinance.     3.  They 


50  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  Sectarian  parties  in  that  body ;  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  harmonizing  them  all  upon  the  platform  of 

have  power  to  require  the  elders  of  those  congregations  to 
give  an  account  of  any  thing  scandalous  in  doctrine  or  prac- 
tice." (Lightfoot,  p.  214,  215J  Another  report  was  brought 
forward  from  this  committee  about  a  week  afterwards,  con- 
taining two  additional  propositions,  forming  five  in  all,  as 
follows  :  "  4.  The  churches  and  eldership  being  offended, 
let  them  examine,  admonish,  and  in  case  of  obstinacy,  de- 
clare them  either  disturbers  of  the  peace,  as  subverters  of  the 
faith,  or  otherwise,  as  the  nature  and  degree  of  the  offence 
shall  require.  5.  In  case  that  the  particular  church  or  elder- 
ship shall  refuse  to  reform  that  scandalous  doctrine  or  prac- 
tice, then  that  meeting  of  elders,  which  is  assembled  from 
several  churches  and  congregations,  shall  acquaint  their  sev- 
eral congregations  respectively,  and  withdraw  from  them, 
and  deny  church  communion  and  fellowship  with  them." 
(Lightfoot,  p.  229.)  In  the  course  of  their  argument  and 
illustrations,  the  dissenting  brethren,  that  is,  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  made  so  many  concessions,  that  it  is  rather  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  on  what  their  final  opposition  rested.  As, 
for  instance,  they  admitted  "  that  synods  are  an  ordinance  of 
God  upon  all  occasions  of  difficulty  ;  that  all  the  churches 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  51 

Presbyterianism.  It  was,  however,  at  once  adopted 
in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  has  been  perpetuated 
in  all  her  branches. 

The  next  work  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
divines  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  is  the  Directory 
for  public  Worship.  A%  early  as  October,  1643,  the 
parliament,  having  virtually  abolished  the  liturgy, 
directed  the  Assembly  to  prepare  "  a  Directory  of 
Worship  or  Liturgy,  hereafter  to  be  in  the  Church," 
with   all   the   convenient   speed   they   could.      The 

• 

of  a  province  may  call  a  single  congregation  to  account;  tiiat 

they  may  examine  and  admonish,  and,  in  case  of  obstinacy, 
may  declare  tliem  to  be  subvcrtcrs  of  the  faith  ;  that  they 
have  authority  to  determine  in  controversies  of  faith  ;  that 
they  may  deny  church  communion  to  an  offending  and  ob- 
stinate congregation,  and  that  this  sentence  of  non-commun- 
ion may  be  enforced  by  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  ; 
and  that  they  may  call  before  them  any  person  within  llieir 
bounds  concerned  in  the  ecclesiastical  business  before  them, 
and  may  hear  and  determine  such  causes  as  orderly  come 
before  them."  Reasons  and  Answers  of  Dissenting  Brethren, 
page  I3H. 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Directory  was  accordingly  drawn  up  and,  after  much 
discussion,  was  almost  unanimously  adopted.  It 
contains  a  directory  for  prayer,  with  the  substance  of 
what  ought  to  be  included  in  the  public  morning 
prayer;  for  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures;  for  the 
administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism ; 
for  preaching  the  word,  the  sanctification  of  the 
Lord's  day,  the  solemnization  of  marriage,  the  observ- 
ance of  days  of  public  fasting  and  humiliation,  and 
also  of  thanksgiving,  and  for  the  burial  of  the  dead. 

In  the  change  then  made  in  the  form  of  public  wor- 
i 
ship,  the  following  things  before  in  use  were  entirely 

omitted,  viz.,  the  public  reading  of  the  Apocrypha 
in  the  churches,  private  and  lay-baptism,  god-fathers 
and  god-mothers,  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism, 
and  the  private  administration  of  the  communion  to 
the  sick.  The  altar  with  rails  was  exchanged  for  the 
communion  table,  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  table  was 
disused,  burial  service,  the  ring  in  marriage,  all  pecu- 
liar garments  for  officiating  ministers,  and  saint's 
days,  were  also  discarded. 

To  the   Assembly,  also,  we  are  indebted  for  a 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  53 

metrical  version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  to  be  used  in 
the  public  worship  of  God,  and  for  the  general  intro- 
duction of  congregational  psalmody.*     This  version 

*  Milner's  Life  of  Watts,  p.  3-58.  "  The  practice  of  the 
primitive  church  was  thus  revived.  The  people  were,  as 
Seeker  expressed  it,  '  restored  to  their  rights,  and  taught  to 
sing  as  well  as  to  pray.'  The  mode  of  singing  psalms  ^n 
measured  verse,  as  now  practised,  was  introduced  first  by 
Calvin  at  Geneva,  in  1543.  He  wrote  the  preface  to  Marot's 
metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,  and  took  care  to  have  them  set 
to  music  by  the  most  distinguished  musicians.  The  whole 
Psalms  with  music,  were  first  printed  at  Geneva  in  1553. 
From  that  church  the  practice  went  forth  into  all  the  re- 
formed churches  in  France,  and  was  introduced  into  Eng- 
land by  tlie  Presbyterians,  who  resided  at  Geneva,  and 
established  an  English  church  there  during  the  Marian  JJO'- 
secution.  The  English  exiles,  while  at  Geneva,  commenced 
and  completed  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Eng- 
lish language.  The  principal  translators  were  Miles  Cov- 
crdalc,  Cliristopher  Goodman,  John  Knox,  Anthony  Gilby 
or  Gibbs,  Thomas  Sampson,  William  Cole,  and  William 
Whittingham.  They  divided  the  chapters  into  verses,  and 
added  notes  in  the  margin,  and  also  tables,  maps,  &c.,  and 


54  HISTORY    OF    THE 

was  composed  by  Mr.  Francis  Rous,  who  was  one  of 
the  lay-members  appointed  to  sit  in  the  Assembly. 
Although  this  work  was  far  from  being  satisfactory, 
it  was  adopted  as  the  best  then  made,  both  by 
the  Assembly  and  by  the  Church  of  Scotland,  where 
it  is  still  used.  In  England  and  America  this  ver- 
sion has  given  place  to  the  far  more  scriptural  and 

published  it  with  a  dedication  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1560. 
The  Psalms,  versified  and  set  to  music  as  in  the  church  of 
Geneva,  were  annexed  to  this  Bible.  This  version  has 
been  known  as  that  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins.  The  initials 
of  the  name  of  the  versifier  were  prefixed  to  each  Psalm. 
Thus  the  Psalms  versified  in  English  came  into  England, 
and  were  allowed  to  be  sung  before  the  morning  and  even- 
ing service  ;  and  at  length  they  were  published  with  this 
declaration  :  Psalms  set  forth  and  alloiccd  to  be  sung  in  all 
churches,  before  and  after  morning  and  evening  Prayer,  as 
also  before  and  after  Serinoyis.  And  in  a  short  time  they  su- 
perseded the  Te  Deum,  Benedicite,  Magnificat,  and  JVunc  di- 
mittis,  which  had  been  retained  from  the  Romish  church. 
Bayle,  Art.  Marot.  Neal,  p.  109.  Heylin,  p.  213,  214.  Rees' 
Cy.  Art.  Bible.  Burnet,  p.  290  Waterman's  Life  of  Cal- 
vin, p.  403. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  55 

proper  version  of  Watts  and  others  ;  while  in  Scot- 
land repeated  efforts  have  been  made  to  improve 
their  existing  psalmody.  In  their  Directory  how- 
ever, under  the  head  "  Of  the  Singing  of  Psalms," 
the  Assembly  do  not  confine  the  churches  to  this 
version,  nor  to  any  version  of  the  Psalms  merely, 
since  they  expressly  teach  that  "  it  is  the  duty  of 
Christians  to  praise  God  by  singing  psalms  or  ^ymws," 
thus  distinctly  condemning  the  modern  exclusiveness 
of  those  who  would  prohibit  Christians  from  using  in 
the  worship  of  God  any  hymns  or  new  songs  adapted 
to  the  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  under  which  we 
live.  And  that  this  was  really  the  sentiment  of  the 
Assembly  is  made  manifest  by  the  very  early  and 
constant  efforts  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  to  provide 
other  scriptural  hymns  for  the  use  of  her  churches, 
and  by  her  adoption  of  more  than  a  hundred  such 
hymns,  which  are  now  authorized  and  in  use  in  that 
church.* 

*  The  secession  church  formerly  took  the  same  view, 
since  all  the  hymns  and  metrical  versions  of  Ezekicl  (or,  as 
they  would  now  call  them,  paraphrases)  were  prepared  by 


5G  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Such  is  a  rapid  summary  of  the  immediate  doings 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  as  the 
ecclesiastical  council  of  the  Long  Parliament.  Com- 
posed of  some  of  the  most  liberal  and  learned  spirits 
of  the  age,  and  conducted  with  more  wisdom  than 
any  other  council  in  any  other  age,  it  has  given  birth 
to  the  most  complete  standards  ever  framed,  furnished 
the  world  with  some  of  the  most  valuable  works 
which  have  ever  been  composed  by  uninspired  men, 
and  communicated  a  general  impetus  to  the  cause 
of  education,  which  is  still  felt,  and  thus  led  to  the 
exaltation  of  the  ministerial  office  and  qualifications. 

"  By  these,"  says  Mr.  Alton,  alluding  to  the 
Westminster  formularies,  "  these  divines  have  erected 
a  monument  in  almost  every  heart  in  Scotland.  For 
two  hundred  years  these  have  withstood  the  attacks 
of  infidelity,  and  even  many  severe  wounds  fi-om  the 
hands  of  their  friends:  yet  is  the  Confession  of  Faith, 

liim,  at  the  request  of  the  secession  synod,  and  with  a  view 
to  their  adoption  in  the  public  worsliip  of  God.  See 
Works  of  Ralph  Erskine,  Vol.  X. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  57 

unshaken  as  the  rock  of  ages,  still  found,  on  a  Sab- 
bath afternoon,  in  the  hands  of  our  peasantry,  dear 
to  them  almost  as  their  Bible  ;  and  the  Catechism, 
carried  morning  after  morning,  by  our  sons  and  our 
daughters,  to  the  parish  school,  (the  plan  of  which 
Henderson  devised,)  that  their  contents  may  en- 
lighten the  minds,  and  spiritualize  the  nature  of  the 
rising  generation.  Next  to  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity itself  into  Scotland,  and  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  vulcrar  tongue,  the  framing  of  the  Con- 
fession  of  our  Faith  and  of  the  Catechisms  has  con- 
ferred the  greatest  boon  on  every  Christian  in  our 
country."* 

But  we  are  not  only  indebted  to  this  Assembly 
for  these  positive  blessings,  but  also  for  an  indirect 
and  most  triumphant  proof  of  the  truth  of  Presbyte- 
rian doctrine  and  polity.  It  has  often  been  denied 
that  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  were 
designed  to  be  understood  in  a  Calvinistic  sense,  or 
that    Calvinism    was    the  first  and   long  established 

*  Life  of  Alexander  Henderson,  p.  468. 


58  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Standard  of  doctrinal  orthodoxy  in  that  church.  To 
our  minds  the  evidence  in  proof  of  both  these  posi- 
tions is  overwhelmingly  great.  And  in  the  fact  that 
ALL  THE  REFORMED  CHURCHES,  in  cvcry  part  of  the 
world,  without  collusion  or  consultation,  by  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  alone,  were  led  to  the  adoption  of 
those  doctrines,  now  termed  Calvinistic  from  their 
greatest  advocate  and  defender,  we  find  an  unanswer- 
able presumption  in  favour  of  the  scripturality  and 
divine  origin  of  these  tenets.  For  on  what  other 
supposition  can  this  perfect  harmony  of  so  many  con- 
fessions, differing  on  other  points,  be  possibly  ac- 
counted for,  and  especially  when  we  remember  that 
these  doctrines  are,  and  ever  will  be,  most  discordant 
to  the  natural  reason,  and  unpalatable  to  the  natural 
feelings  of  man  ?  Look  also  at  this  Westminster 
Assembly,  composed  of  different  parties,  of  laymen 
and  ministers,  of  politicians  and  divines,  convened 
from  every  portion  of  the  land,  and  generally  un- 
known to  each  other.  And  yet  in  that  whole  body  it 
does  not  appear  that  there  was  one  single  individual 
who  dissented  from  any  of  those  doctrines  which  are 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  59 

included  under  the  Calvinistic  system.  There  was 
not  among  them  all  one  Arminian  or  Antinomian, 
much  less  one  Unitarian  or  Pelagian.  The  same  is 
true  in  a  great  degree  of  the  parliament  itself.  Even 
among  the  many  hundred  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
who  constituted  that  body,  we  do  not  find  a  single  in- 
fidel, Unitarian,  Pelagian,  or  even  Arminian.*  They 
were  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  stanch  friends  of  ortho- 
doxy. So  that  for  the  truth  of  our  doctrinal  stand- 
ards we  have  the  universal  testimony  of  the  ablest, 
wisest,  and    best   men,    both    at   the   period   of  the 

*  On  March  22d,  1648,  a  conference  was  held  between 
the  two  houses,  to  compare  their  opinions  respecting  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  the  result  of  which  is  thus  stated  by 
ushforth  :  "  The  Commons  this  day  (March  22d)  at  a  con- 
ference presented  the  Lords  with  the  Confession  of  Faith 
passed  by  them  with  some  aherations,  viz.,  That  they  do 
agree  with  their  lordships,  and  so  with  the  Assembly,  in  the 
doctrinal  part,  and  desire  the  same  may  be  made  public,  that 
this  kingdom,  and  all  the  Reformed  churches  of  Christendom 
may  see  the  parliament  of  England  differ  not  in  doctrine." 
Hetherington,  244,  245. 


60  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Reformation,  and  in  an  age  which  has  been  justly 
styled  the  glory  of  England  and  the  golden  age  of 
literature. 

Equally  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  these  bodies, 
almost  to  a  man  Episcopalian  hy  hirth  and  education, 
should,  after  long,  minute,  and  impartial  investigation, 
reject  the  scriptural  claims  of  prelacy,  and  adopt 
those  principles  denominated  presbytery,  as  the  truly 
scriptural  and  primitive  polity.  In  the  main  fea- 
tures and  principles  of  this  system,  there  was  no  dif- 
ference of  opinion,  either  in  the  Assembly  or  in  the 
parliament.  That  there  is  but  one  order  of  the 
Christian  ministry,  called  indiscriminately  presbyters 
or  bishops,  ordained  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and 
found  in  the  truly  primitive  church,  all,  without 

EXCEPTION,     AVERE    CONSTRAINED     TO     BELIEVE.       On 

this  ground,  Presbyterians,  Independents,  and  Eras- 
tians  all  stood  without  wavering  or  doubt.  On  the 
subject  of  divine  right,  the  powder  of  presbyteries, 
synods  and  assemblies,  and  of  ruling  elders,  there 
were,  it  is  true,  differences  of  views,  as  there  are  at 
this    moment,    in    the    bosom   of  the    Presbyterian 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  61 

church,  as  well  as  out  of  it.  The  Erastians  denied 
the  spiritual  independence  of  the  church,  and  her 
right  to  govern  ecclesiastically,  free  from  all  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  state.  The  Independents 
denied  the  propriety  of  stated  and  regular  judica- 
tories, though  they  allowed  the  Scripturality  of  Synods 
and  Presbyteries,  whenever  necessary.  But  in  the 
great  fundamental  principle  which  divides  prelatists 
from  all  other  denominations,  every  member  of  the 
Assembly  and  every  member  of  the  parliament  were 
fully  agreed.  Is  there  not,  then,  great  weight  in  this 
fact  ?  And  when  connected  with  the  unanimous 
judgment  of  all  the  reformed  churches,  and  the  opin- 
ions of  some  of  the  greatest  divines  in  every  age,  from 
that  period  up  to  the  time  of  the  apostles,  does  it  not 
demonstrate  that  the  orders  of  the  hierarchy  origina- 
ted not  in  Scripture,  but  in  custom  and  the  policy  of 
man  ? 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE 


SECTION     IV. 

THE    POLITICAL  SENTIMENTS  AND  CHARACTER  OF    THE  WEST- 
MINSTER   ASSEMBLY    AND    ITS    ADHERENT* 

But  we  pass  on  to  remark,  that  in  an  age  of  dis- 
traction, anarchy,  and  wild  excess,  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  and  the  party  which  adhered  to  them  and  to 
their  principles,  formed  the  conservative  influence  by 
which  peace,  order,  and  truth  were  maintained,  and 
would  have  been,  if  possible,  preserved.  They  were 
men  of  liberal  views,  but  they  were  not  latitudinarian. 
They  were  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  but 
they  sought  it  in  the  establishment  of  constitutional 
rights,  and  not  in  the  destruction  of  the  constitution. 
They  were  attached  to  the  British  government  of 
kings,  lords,  and  commons,  and  believing  that  it  only 
required  reform  to  be  stable,  just,  and  free,  they  re- 
garded  as  unwise,  dangerous,   and    chimerical,  the 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  63  . 

attempt  to  establish  upon  its  rui7is  a  system  of  mili- 
tary despotism,  or  agrarian  democracy.  They  de- 
sired a  republic  in  which  the  president  should  be 
elective  or  hereditary,  with  the  name  of  king  ;  and 
in  which  the  force  of  the  democracy  and  of  the  no- 
bility should  be  equally  subject  to  check.  They 
were,  in  short,  conservatives,  and  not  radicals.  They 
opposed,  therefore,  to  a  man,  the  execution  of  the 
king.  They  openly  denounced  the  usurpation  by 
Cromwell  of  all  prerogative  and  authority.  They 
protested  against  the  encouragement  which  was  given 
to  error,  heresy,  and  schism.  And  they  aimed  at  the 
union  of  the  whole  British  Empire  in  a  common 
bond  of  Protestant  harmony. 

Looking  back  upon  the  eventful  history  of  those 
times,  and  the  calamitous  results  of  the  wild,  ungov- 
ernable reign  of  mere  popular  license  which  succeed- 
ed, we  can  see  that  they  were  correct.  The  British 
people  were  not  prepared,  either  for  subjection  to  a 
military  despotism,  for  the  freedom  and  self-govern- 
ment of  a  republic,  or  for  the  unrestrained  exercise  of 
an  unbridled  liberty.     Had  the  party  connected  with 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  Assembly  prevailed,  instead  of  having  been  early 
defeated  and  overwhelmed,  the  lamentable  conse- 
quences would  not  have  ensued.  A  republican 
monarchy  would  have  been  established,  which  might 
have  ripened,  ere  this,  into  a  constitutional  republic. 
The  reign  of  anarchy,  confusion,  and  blood,  would 
have  been  prevented.  The  nation  would  not  have 
fallen  a  prey  to  intestine  feuds,  and  to  the  voracious 
maws  of  innumerable  sects.  The  tide  of  liberty, 
which  had  been  for  years  swelling  in  its  onward 
flow,  would  not  have  been  driven  back  within  the 
channels  of  arbitrary  power.  The  sun  of  freedom, 
which  had  shone  so  brightly,  would  not  have  gone 
down  before  noonday.  A  disastrous  eclipse  would 
not  have  so  soon  obscured  the  hopes  of  the  nation, 
and  buried  ihem  again  in  the  darkness  of  absolute 
despotism,  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  Those  ages  of 
licentiousness,  formality,  persecution,  and  cruelty, 
would  not  have  followed,  which  converted  England 
into  the  home  of  infidelity,  scattered  her  pious  chil- 
dren, and  drove  them  into  exile,  and  deluged  every 
mountain-pass  and  deep  ravine  of  Scotland  with  the 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  65 

blood  of  martyred  Covenanters.  Thanks  to  God, 
these  efforts  of  the  enemy  were  unavailing !  The 
precious  spark  of  liberty  which  the  Puritans  alone 
had  kindled,  was  still  preserved  with  the  blood  of  its 
slaughtered  friends,  and  has  burst  forth  in  that  free- 
dom which  now  characterizes  the  English  constitu- 
tion, and  which  shines  forth  in  unclouded  brilliance 
in  this  land  of  liberty.  And  when  it  is  recollected 
what  Presbytery  has  done  for  Scotland,  compared 
with  what  Prelacy  has  done  for  England;  and  in  Ire- 
land what  Presbytery  has  effected  for  Ulster,  com- 
pared with  what  Episcopacy  has  accomplished  for  the 
other  provinces  of  that  unhappy  country,  who,  it  has 
been  truly  asked,  will  venture  to  conclude  that  the 
evils  which  now  threaten  to  overthrow  the  Protestant 
establishments  in  Britain,  might  not  have  been 
avoided,  had  the  Presbyterian  polity  been  universally 
established.* 

*  Presb.  Review,  March,  1836,  p.  27. 


66  HISTORY    OP    THE 


SECTION    V. 

THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  OF 
THEIR  TIME  VINDICATED  FROM  THE  CHARGE  OF  PERSE- 
CUTION. 

But  it  is  said  this  Presbyterian  party  were  intol- 
erant and  persecuting.  Doubtless  it  is  so  decreed, 
for  their  enemies  alone  have  been  their  historians,  and 
vilification  and  abuse  their  only  monument.  But 
have  they  received  justice  at  the  hands  of  posterity  ? 
Far  from  it.  Their  true  history  has  yet  to  be  writ- 
ten. Not  that  they  were  free  from  fault — they  were 
men.  Not  that  they  had  imbibed  those  views  of  uni- 
versal toleration  which  are  the  glory  of  the  present 
age — they  lived  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Not 
that  we  cdsi  palliate,  much  less  justify,  whatever  in 
their  course  was  inconsistent  with  the  most  perfect 
liberty  of  opinion  and  practice.     We  make  no  such 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  67 

apology.  But  we  demand  an  arrest  of  judgment.  We 
ask  that  they  shall  be  tried  by  the  standard  of  their 
own  age,  and  the  opinions  of  the  men  of  that  age. 
Trained  within  the  precincts  of  a  state  church,  they 
retained  much  of  its  spirit,  and  acted,  as  axiomatically 
true,  upon  many  of  its  evil  maxims.  By  these  false 
principles  they  were  misled — some  of  them  far  and 
widely.  They  admitted  the  right  and  power  of  the 
magistrate  to  interfere  with  the  church,  to  establish 
and  control  her  external  movements,  and  thus  to  es- 
tablish a  uniformity  of  worship.  And  hence  believ- 
ing, as  they  did,  that  Presbytery  was  by  divine  right 
the  polity  of  the  church  of  Christ,  they  sought  that 
the  civil  power  should  give  its  sanction  of  exclusive 
approbation  to  this  system.  They  protested  against 
the  state, — after  having  bound  itself  to  the  cause  of 
Presbyterianism  by  solemn  league  and  covenant, — 
recognizing  and  encouraging  the  innumerable  sects 
which  then  sprung  into  existence,  from  the  prolific 
hot-bed  of  superstition  and  ignorance,  exposed  to  the 
full  influence  of  a  licentious  and  unrestrained  license. 
They  could  not  believe  that  it  was  proper  that  all 


68  HISTORY    OF    THE 

men  should  have  unlimited  freedom  to  proclaim  sen- 
timents however  blasphemous  and  revolting,  and  to 
practice,  as  acts  of  worship,  immoralities  and  inde- 
cencies too  gross  to  be  detailed.*  Against  a  positive 
and  judicial  sanction  to  these  things,  on  the  part  of 
government,  they  did  solemnly  protest.  It  being  on 
ALL  HANDS  AGREED  that  it  was  the  province  of  the 
state  to  adjudicate  on  this  matter,  the  Presbyterian 
party  argued  that  it  was  one  thing  "  not  to  compel 
men  to  come  in,  and  another  thing  to  open  the  door 
for  the  encouragement  of  error,  and  to  inscribe  over 
it  "  all  kinds  of  heresies,  schisms,  and  blasphemies, 
publicly  allowed  and  tolerated  here."  And  who  will 
deny  that  this  conclusion  follows  inevitably  from  the 

PREMISES  THEN  UNIVERSALLY  ADMITTED  ?       For    if  it 

is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  state  to  establish  and  de- 
fend religion,  then  is  the  state  hotind  to  enforce  only 
that  system  which  is  true,  and  to  discountenance  and 
condemn  all  other  forms  of  religion.     And  since  the 

«  McCrie's  Scott.  Hist.  p.  307,  308,  310.   Hetherington, 
Hist  of  Ch.  of  Scot.,  p.  340. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  69 

parliament  had  established  the  Presbyterian  faith  and 
discipline,  it  was  consistently  required  to  patronize  it 
alone.  The  error  was  in  the  principle  acted  upon, 
which,  however,  all  avouched  as  correct,  and  not  in 
the  conclusion  deduced  from  it,  and  which  was  repro- 
bated only  by  the  party  it  excluded.  The  Assembly 
having  been  constituted  the  advisory  council  of  the 
parliament,  and  having  been  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  Presbyterian  system  was  by  divine  right, 
were  of  necessity  impelled  to  seek  the  recognition  of 
that  divine  right  oa  the  part  of  the  parliament. 

But  there  was  anotlier  privilege  and  right  which 
they  claimed  for  the  church,  and  that  was  her  spirit- 
ual independence,  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters,  upon 
all  civil  authority  whatsoever.  This  doctrine  has 
ever  been  dear  to  Scottish  Presbyterians.  The 
history  of  that  country  for  nearly  a  century  and  a 
half  after  the  overthrow  of  Popery,  presents  a  series 
of  struggles  unexampled  in  severity  and  number,  to 
protect  and  to  rescue  it  from  Erastian  encroachments. 
To  surrender  it  to  these  was  deemed  no  less  than 
4* 


70  HISTORY    OF    THE 

treason  to  Christ,  and  the  taking  of  the  crown  from 
His  head.  The  sense  entertained  of  its  importance, 
and  the  ardor  of  the  people's  attachment  to  it  were 
such,  that  many  submitted  to  bonds,  and  to  the  loss 
of  goods  and  of  life,  for  its  sake.  The  names  of  the 
Scottish  martyrs,  from  the  era  of  the  Reformation 
downwards,  are  one  and  all  associated  with  its  main- 
tenance. The  very  peasantry  of  the  land  understood 
it — defended  it — died  for  it.  And  during  those 
twenty-eight  years  of  national  suffering  which  pre- 
ceded the  memorable  revolution,  the  fundamental 
question  in  the  great  controversy  upheld  by  our  an- 
cestors against  the  fearful  odds  of  unprincipled  and 
cruel  despotism,  was  no  other  than  the  Headship  of 
Christ,  and  the  liberty  and  spiritual  independence  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland.  "  The  day,"  says  that  great 
man,  John  Welsh  of  Ayr,  when  writing  from  his 
prison  at  Blackness,  "  on  which  I  should  be  offered 
up  as  a  sacrifice  for  these  truths,  now  the  special 
cause  of  our  imprisonment, — that  Christ  is  Head  of 
His  Church,  and  that  she  is  free  of  all  jurisdiction 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  71 

but  His — I  should  consider   the   most  glorious  day 
and  gladdest  hour  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.* 

*  Mr.  Tliomas  Forrester,  in  1674,wlien  minister  of  Alva, 
gave  in  a  paper  to  the  bretlircn  of  the  exercise,  wherein  he 
stated  that  the  "  two  powers,  civil  and  ecclesiastic,  are  dis- 
tinct toto  genere,  both  as  to  the  original,  the  subject-matter, 
the  manner  of  working,  and  the  nearest  end  designed, — con- 
sequently,, that  THEY  ARE  CO-ORniNATE,  NOT  SUBORDINATE 
ONE  TO  ANOTHER.  That  tlicsc  Were  kept  also  distinct — dis- 
tinct limits  being  put  betwixt  them,  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  :  under  the  law,  a  standing  priesthood  and 
spiritual  sanhedrim  established,  who  were  to  meddle  with 
matters  of  the  Lord,  distinct  from  matters  of  the  king  :  that 
the  judgment  on  Saul  and  Uzzias  was  for  going  beyond  their 
limit :  and  that,  under  the  New  Testament,  the  liOrd  Jesus, 
the  king,  head,  and  lawgiver  of  his  church,  hath  a  visible 
kingdom  which  he  exerciseth  in  and  over  the  church  visible 
by  its  spiritual  office-bearers  given  to  it  as  a  church;  and 
therefore  distinct  from,  and  independent  upon,  the  civil  power, 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  being  by  him  committed 
not  to  the  magistrate,  but  to  the  apostles'  successors  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  That  as  it  is  clear  that  this  spiritual 
power  was  at  first  committed  to  church  officers,  when  no 


72  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Now  this  was  the  great  fundamental  princi- 
ple for  which  the  Assembly  and  the  Presbyterian 
party  contended,  as  even  Neal  admits.  And  to  show 
that  they  were  in  earnest  in  maintaining  it,  they 
nobly  determined,  like  their  present  followers,  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  that  they  would  not  com- 
ply with  the  existing  establishment  until  it  was  deliv- 
ered from  the  yoke  of  the  civil  magistrate. 

Such  were  the  views  embodied  in  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith ;  imbedded  in  the  Covenants ; 
and  which  constituted  the  rallying  motto  on  the  ban- 
ners of  the  blue.  Such  was  that  church  power 
whicht  he  Presbyterians  were  so  anxious  to  secure, 

magistrate  was  so  much  as  a  member  thereof,  and  conse- 
quently to  be  exercised  then  independently  upon  him,  so  it 
is  as  clear  that  our  Lord  hath  commanded  the  exercise  of  this 
power  as  intrinsic  in  the  church,  whether  the  magistrate  he 
friend  or  enemy,  upon  moral  perpetual  grounds,  till  he  come 
again." — Wodrow's  History,  II.,  254. 

Mr.  Forrester  was  deposed.  He  survived  the  revolution, 
however ;  and  became  Principal  of  the  new  College  of  St. 
Andrews. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  73 

and  which  has  been  magnified  into  a  civil  authority 
over  men's  persons  and  properties.  It  had  nothing 
to  do  with  either.  It  was  purely  ecclesiastical  and 
spiritual.  It  is  what  every  church  in  this  country  at 
this  moment  possesses,  the  power  of  conducting  its 
own  affairs,  and  exercising  its  own  discipline,  accord- 
ing to  its  own  rules  and  the  dictates  of  Scripture. 
Now  the  claim  of  this  power  and  the  consequent 
right  to  keep  back  scandalous  and  unworthy  persons 
from  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  sup- 
per, was  the  very  head  and  front  of  their  offending. 
This  constituted  the  great  point  in  dispute  between 
the  Assembly  and  the  parliament.  The  latter  passed 
a  law  by  which  an  ultimate  appeal  was,  in  every  case, 
given  from  the  ecclesiastical  to  the  civil  tribunals ; 
and  by  which  church  courts  might  be  compelled  to 
admit  and  retain  in  the  church  the  most  unworthy 
members.  Against  this  the  whole  Presbyterian  party 
protested — and  were  they  not  right?  The  recogni- 
tion of  their  exclusive  scriptural  claims,  which  the 
parliament  had  in  effect  allowed,  and  of  the  spiritual 
independence  of  the  church  upon  the  state,  this  was 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE 

all  that  they  desired,  and  with  less  than  which  they 
refused  to  be  satisfied.* 

But  the  annexation  of  civil  penalties  did  not  enter 
into  the  claim  of  the  Presbyterians  in  their  doctrine 
of  the  divine  right  of  Presbytery.  They  did  not  ask 
to  wield  the  power  of  the  sword,  nor  the  enforcement 
of  uniformity  by  civil  pains.  The  church,  even  in 
Scotland,  and  in  the  full  plenitude  of  its  power,  never 
did  persecute.  Expressions  indeed  may  be  found 
which,  as  noiD  understood,  breathe  the  spirit  of  intol- 
erance. But  it  cannot  be  shown  that,  with  the  con- 
sent and  approbation  of  the  public  authorities,  the 
covenant  was  ever  forced  upon  any,  or  that  the  loss 
of  liberty  or  of  goods  was  incurred  by  its  refusal.! 

*  See  their  own  statements  in  "  The  Divine  Right  of 
Church  Government,"  1654.  Pref.  4,  8,  9,  10,  11,  in  the 
work  pp.  2,  4,  7,  43,  45,  67.  Also  flIcCrie's  Scott.  Church 
Hist.,  p.  303.  Alton's  Life  of  Henderson,  pp.  558-565.  Gil- 
lespie's Aaron's  Rod  Blossoming,  Dedication  to  the  Assem- 
bly, and  Preface  to  the  Reader.  A  Model  of  Church  Govern- 
ment, by  John  Drury,  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Div.  Pref 

t  Dr.  McCrie  on  Unity  of  the  Church,  p.  162.     Hether- 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  /O 

Such  as  refused  to  take  the  covenant  were  indeed,  in 
many  cases,  excluded  from  places  of  power  and  trust. 
But  was  not  this  treatment  demanded  by  a  regard  to 
the  high  interests  at  stake  ;  to  their  own  safety ;  and 
to  those  maxims  of  prudence  by  which,  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances, all  people  are  led  most  carefully  to  dis- 
tinguish such  as  approve,  from  those  who  oppose 
their  interests?  In  such  a  season  of  national  danger 
and  alarm,  when  all  that  was  dear  to  the  soul  was  put 
in  jeopardy,  who  could  expect  the  Presbyterians  to 
intrust  their  enemies  with  offices  of  power  and  trust  ? 
National  religion,  safety,  liberty,  and  peace  forbade. 
And  if  such  exclusion  was  intolerant,  then  is  every 
government  and  society  now  intolerant,  since  they  ex- 
clude from  office  such  as  are  disqualified  by  their 
opposing  views  to  fill  them  ?* 

ington's  Hist,  of  Ch.  of  Scot.,  p  341.  McCrie's  Scott.  Ch. 
Hist.,  p.  212. 

*  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  tiiat  with  all  this  outcry  about 
the  intolerance  of  the  Assembly,  the  Confession  of  Faith  it 
drew  up  was  never  made  a  legal  standard  of  orthodoxy — it 
was  never  enforced  as  a  torni  of  Christian  communion,  nor 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Beyond  this,  however,  they  did  not  go,  and  even 
to  this  length  the  greater  part  were  unwillingly  driv- 
en. "  How  can  we,"  say  they,  in  their  defence  of 
their  church  government,  "tyrannize  over  any,  or  in 
what  respects  ?  Not  over  their  states ;  for,  we  claim 
no  secular  power  at  all  over  men's  states,  by  fines, 
mulcts,  penalties,  forfeitures,  or  confiscations.  Not 
over  their  bodies,  for  we  inflict  no  corporal  punish- 
ment, by  banishment,  imprisonment,  branding,  slit- 
ting, cropping,  striking,  whipping,  dismembering  or 
killing  :  not  over  their  souls  ;  for  them  we  desire  by 
this  government  to  gain,  (Matth.  18:  15,)  to  edify, 
(2  Cor.  10:  8,  and  13:  10,)  and  to  save,  (1  Cor.  5:  5.) 
Only  this  government  ought  to  be  impartial  and  severe 
against  sin,  that  the  flesh  may  be  destroyed,  (1  Cor. 
5:  5.)  It  is  only  destructive  to  corruption,  which  is 
deadly  and  destructive  to  the  soul.  Thus  the  impu- 
tation itself  of  arbitrariness  or  tyrannicalness  to  the 
Presbyterial  government  is  unjust  and  causeless."*   . 

ever  enjoined  upon  all    ministers  for  forty  years  after  its 
adoption.     Neal,  III.,  32!). 

*  Jus  Divinum  Regiminis  Ecclesiastici.     Pref ,  p.  10. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  77 

Such  sentiments  as  the  following  were  also  fre- 
quently expressed  by  them  in  their  public  sermons. 
"  Fierce  and  furious  prosecution,  even  of  a  good 
cause,  is  rather  prejudice  than  promotion.  We  must 
tenaciously  adhere  to  all  divine  truths  ourselves,  and, 
with  our  wisest  moderation,  plant  and  propagate 
them  in  others.  Opposites,  indeed,  must  be  opposed, 
gainsaid,  reclaimed ;  but  all  must  be  done  in  a  way, 
and  by  the  means,  appointed  from  heaven.  It  is  one 
thing  to  show  moderation  to  pious,  peaceable,  and 
tender  consciences ;  it  is  another  thing  to  proclaim 
beforehand  toleration  to  impious,  fiery,  and  unpeace- 
able  opinions."*  The  true  sentiments  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian party  and  of  the  Assembly,  may  be  further  seen 
from  the  following  extracts  from  Baillie,  one  of  their 
number  :  "As  for  the  Church  of  Scotland,  that  it 
did  ever  intermeddle  to  trouble  any  in  their  goods, 
liberties,  or  persons,  is  very  false.  What  civil  penal- 
ties the  parliament  of  a  kingdom  thinks  meet  to  in- 
flict upon  those  who  are  refractory  and  unamenable 

*  Hetherington,  287. 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE 

by  the  censures  of  a  church,  the  state  from  whom  alone 
these  punishments  do  come,  are  answerable,  and  not 
the  church.  That  excommunication  in  Scotland  is 
inflicted  on  those  who  cannot  assent  to  every  point  of 
religion  determined  in  their  confession,  there  is  no- 
thing more  untrue ;  for  we  know  it  well,  that  never 
any  person  in  Scotland  was  excommunicated  only  for 
his  difference  of  opinion  in  a  theological  tenet.  Ex- 
communication there  is  a  very  dreadful  sentence,  and 
therefore  very  rare.  These  last  forty  years,  so  far  as 
I  have  either  seen  or  heard,  there  has  none  at  all 
been  excommunicated  in  Scotland  but  some  few  traf- 
ficking Papists,  and  some  very  notoriously  flagitious 
persons,  and  five  or  six  of  you  the  prelates  for  your 
obstinate  impenitence,  after  your  overturning  the 
foundations  both  of  our  church  and  state."  In  an- 
other work,  published  about  the  same  time,  he  says, 
"  If  once  the  government  of  Christ  were  set  up 
amongst  us,  as  it  is  in  the  rest  of  the  reformed 
churches,  we  know  not  what  would  impede  it,  by  the 
sword  of  God  alone,  without  any  secular  violence,  to 
banish  out  of  the  land  these  spirits  of  error   in  all 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  79 

meekness,  humility,  and  love,  by  the  force  of  truth, 
convincing  and  satisfying  the  minds  of  the  seduced. 
Put  these  holy  and  divine  instruments  into  the  hands 
of  the  Church  of  England,  by  the  blessing  of  God 
thereupon,  the  sole  and  great  evil  of  so  many  heresies 
and  schisms,  shall  quickly  be  cured,  which  now  not 
only  troubles  the  peace  and  welfare,  but  hazards  the 
very  subsistence  both  of  church  and  kingdom  ;  with- 
out this  mean,  the  state  will  toil  itself  in  vain  about 
the  cure  of  such  spiritual  diseases." 

"  The  Presbyterian  party,"  says  Baxter,*  "  con- 
sisted of  grave,  orthodox,  godly  ministers,  together 
with  the  hopefuUest  of  the  students  and  young  minis- 
ters, and  the  soberest,  godly,  ancient  Christians,  wno 

WERE     EQUALLY    AVERSE     TO    PERSECUTION     AND    TO 

SCHISM ;  and  of  those  young  ones  who  were  educated 
and  ruled  by  these;  as,  also,  of  the  soberest  sort  of 
the  well-meaning  vulgar,  who  liked  a  godly  life, 
though  they  had   no   great  knowledge  of  it.     This 

PARTY  WAS  MOST  DESIROUS  OF  PEACE." 
*  Orme's  Life  of,  p.  81. 


80  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  rash  expressions  or 
improper  language  of  any  individual  among  them,  we 
can  prove  the  kind  and  liberal  conduct  of  the  Pres- 
byterians by  the  testimony  of  an  Episcopalian  of  emi- 
nence. "  Whatever,"  says  Dr.  John  Edwards,  "  may 
be  thought  of  the  principles  of  the  Presbyterians  on 
the  subject   of  toleration,   it  is  undeniable  that 

THEIR    PRACTICE,  WHEN  IN    POWER,  WAS  MARKED    BY 

THE  MOST  EXEMPLARY  FORBEARANCE.  The  Presby- 
terian party  (though  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  the 
representative  body  of  the  city,  the  Court  of  Common 
Council,  the  ministry  of  the  kingdom,  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  godly,  well-affected  persons,  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  yea,  all  the  reformed  churches, 
own  that  way)  in  their  love  and  forbearance  to  the 
sectaries  hath  been  admirable.  When  the  Independ- 
ents were  but  ^ew,  and  other  sectaries  a  small  num- 
ber, some  half  a  score  or  dozen  ministers,  with  three 
hundred  or  four  hundred  people,  the  Presbyterians  gave 
them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  admitted  them  to 
their  meetings,  opened  their  pulpit-doors  to  them, 
showed  all  brotherly  respect  to  them,  even  more  than 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  81 

to  mostof  their  own  way ;  and  notwithstanding  breach 
of  agreements,  drawing  away  their  people,  and  many 
and  strange  carriages,  yet  still  using  all  fairness  and 
love,  hoping  by  brotherly  kindness,  forbearance,  and 
a  thorough  reformation  in  the  church,  (wherein  they 
have  been  willing,  upon  all  occasions,  to  gratify  and 
have  respect  unto  their  consciences,)  at  last  to  have 
gained  them."* 

It  is  also  to  be  remembered,  that  whatever  was 
intolerant  in  the  spirit  or  language  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian party,  was  openly  disavowed  by  some  of  its 
most  eminent  divines,  as  for  instance,  by  IIowe,t  and 
Baxter. I 

But  the  injustice  with  which  the  charge  of  intol- 
erance is  made  so  exclusively  against  the  Presbyteri- 
ans of  this  period,  will  be  still  further  apparent  by 
comparing  them  with  the  Independents.  We  have 
no  wish  to  derogate  from  the  just  praise  which  is 

*  Sec  also  Lorimer's  Manual  of  Presbytery,  p.  230. 

t  Works,  Vol.  IV.,  433,  and  Rogers's  Life  of,  I.,  358-364. 

t  In  Neal,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  73 


82  HISTORY    OF    THE 

due  to  this  body  for  their  efforts  to  promote  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  Posterity  is,  and  ever  will  be,  un- 
der deep  and  lasting  obligations  to  them.  But  that 
they  are  peculiarly  entitled  to  gratitude  on  this  ac- 
count, or  more  so  than  their  Presbyterian  brethren, 
we  are  not  prepared  to  admit. 

It  is  not  true,  as  is  generally  supposed,  that  the 
great  principle  of  religious  toleration  originated  with 
the  Independents.  It  was  promulgated  in  its  germ 
by  many  of  the  reformers  who  were  Presbyterian. 
Luther  taught  that  "  the  church  ought  not  to  force 
persons  to  believe,  nor  to  animadvert  capitally  on 
those  who  follow  a  different  religion,"  "  that  to  be- 
lieve is  something  free,  yea,  divine,  being  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit ,  wherefore  it  cannot  and  ouglit  not  to  be 
forced  by  any  external  violence."  Zuingle  declared 
that  "  it  is  at  once  contrary  to  the  gospel  and  to  rea- 
son, to  employ  violent  measures  to  extort  a  confession 
contrary  to  conscience.  Reason  and  persuasion  are 
the  arms  that  a  Christian  ought  to  employ."  Calvin 
declared  that,  "  though  it  may  be  wrong  to  form 
friendship  or  intimacy  with  those  who   hold  perni- 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  83 

cious  opinions,  yet  must  we  contend  against  them 
only  by  exhortations,  by  kindly  instructions,  by  clem- 
ency, by  mildness,  by  prayers  to  God,  that  they  may 
be  so  changed  as  to  bear  good  fruits,  and  be  restored 
to  the  unity  of  the  church.  And  not  only  are  erring 
Christians  to  be  so  treated,  but  even  Turks  and  Sa- 
racens." Similar  sentiments  were  also  expressed  by 
Knox,  Melville,  and  other  eminent  Presbyterian  re- 
formers. But  they  were  not  the  sentiments  of  their 
age,  nor  was  their  age  prepared  to  receive  them. 
They  sowed,  however,  the  seed  which  others  reaped. 
They  imbedded  these  principles  in  their  ecclesiastical 
constitutions,  and  in  their  doctrine  of  civil  govern- 
ment and  the  function  of  the  magistrate.  And  it  is 
to  Calvinism  and  Presbyterianism  we  owe  all  those 
controversies  and  civil  commotions  which  gave  birth 
to  the  modern  republics,  and  diffused  so  widely  the 
principles  of  toleration  and  freedom. 

In  short,  to  the  bonds,  covenants,  or  leagues, 
adopted  by  the  Protestants  in  Germany  and  France, 
and  by  the  Protestant  nobility  and  gentry  in  Scot- 
land, before  its  reformation  ; — to  the  covenant  en- 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tered  into  in  the  form  of  a  national  deed  in  Scotland 
in  1580,  and  again  in  1638; — and  to  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  so  generally  adopted  in  both 
England  and  Scotland,  in  1643 ; — the  fathers  of  our 
Revolution,  w.ere  indebted  for  the  idea,  nature,  form, 
and  much  of  the  very  wording  of  the  celebrated 
Declaration  of  our  national  Independence.  National 
reformation  and  uniformity  were  combined  with  na- 
tional liberty,  safety,  peace,  and  law,  in  these  holy 
bonds,  by  which  the  confederates  pledged  to  one  an- 
other their  lives,  their  property,  and  their  sacred 
honor,  by  solemn  oath  to  the  Most  High  God.  Let 
£iny  one  read  and  compare  these  several  deeds  with 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  they  will  be 
led  to  conclude  that  to  these  men,  vilified  and  abused 
as  they  are,  this  country  and  the  world  must  look  as 
the  very  source  and  fountain  of  their  priceless  liber- 
ties. 

These  principles,  be  it  remembered,  had  been 
stated  and  theoretically  enforced,  when  the  Independ- 
ents found  Presbyterianism  about  to  be  established, 
and  themselves  excluded.     It  was  then  they  laid  hold 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  85 

of  this  sheet-anchor  of  religious  toleration,  and  in 
self-defence  pressed  it  upon  the  attention  of  the  pub- 
lic. And  the  truth  is,  that  it  was  by  this  very  war  of 
opinions,  and  this  strife  of  interests,  the  great  doc- 
trine of  religious  toleration  was  developed.  It  was 
by  this  means  at  length  made  manifest  that  there  was 
no  alternative  between  universal  toleration  and  spirit- 
ual despotism.  Amid  the  storm  and  tempest  of  the 
wrath  and  contention  of  men,  this  bow  of  promise 
rose  upon  our  afflicted  world,  and  gave  assurance 
that  in  future  men  of  every  creed  might  dwell  to- 
•  gether  in  peace  and  unity. 

TJie  Independents,  however,  were  no  more  har- 
monious in  their  sentiments  on  this  subject,  or  con- 
sistent in  their  practice,  than  were  Presbyterians. 
Did  they  not  make  the  peculiar  constitution  of  the 
church,  as  laid  down  hy  them,  an  article  of  faith  ap- 
pertaining to  salvation,  and  thus  unchurch  and  ex- 
communicate all  other  denominations  ?*     Did  they 

*  See  numerous  proofs  in  Paget's  Defence  of  Presb.  Ch. 
Gov't  ,  p.  33.  As  to  the  lengths  to  which  they  went,  Bost- 
wick'a  Utter  Routing — Epistle  to  the  Reader. 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE 

not,  in  their  famous  Apologetical  Narrative,  declare 
that  "  they  give  to  the  magistrates  power,  as  much, 
and,  as  they  think,  more  than  the  principles 
of  the  Presbyterial  government  will  suffer  them  to 
yield?"*  Did  not  Dr.  Owen,  in  a  sermon  preached 
before  the  House  of  Commons,  thus  present  their  doc- 
trine on  the  subject  of  toleration  ?f  "  Some,  per- 
haps," says  he,  "  by  a  toleration  understand  an  uni- 
versal, uncontrolled  license  of  living  as  you  please  in 
things  concerning  religion  :  that  every  one  may  be 
let  alone,  and  not  so  much  as  discountenanced  in 
doing,  speaking,  acting,  how,  what,  where,  or  when 
he  pleaseth,  in  all  such  things  as  concerneth  the 
worship  of  God,  articles  of  belief,  or  generally  any 
thing  commanded  in  religion.  And  in  the  mean  time, 
the  parties  at  variance,  and  litigant  about  differences, 
freely  to  revile,  reject,  and  despise  one  another,  ac- 
cording as  their  provoked  genius  shall  dispose  their 
minds  thereunto.     Now,  truly,  though  every  one  of 

*  See  in  Dr.  McCrie  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church,  p.  153. 
t  Printed  in  1646,  p.  66,  in  Hetherington,  p.  286. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  87 

this  mind  pretend  to  cry  for  mercy  to  be  extended 
unto  poor  afflicted  Truth,  yet  I  cannot  but  be  per- 
suaded, that  such  a  toleration  would  prove  exceeding 
pernicious  to  all  sorts  of  men."  Did  not  the  Inde- 
pendents accept  sequestered  livings  from  which  even 
Presbyterians  were  ejected,  as  freely,  to  say  the  least, 
as  Presbyterians  had  ever  done?*  "  When,  upon  the 
death  of  the  king,  the  government  of  England  was 
changed  to  a  commonwealth,  an  ordinance  was 
passed  appointing  an  engagement  to  be  taken,  first 
by  all  civil  and  military  officers,  and  afterwards  by 
all  who  held  official  situations  in  the  universities; 
and  at  last  it  was  further  ordered,  that  no  min- 
ister be  capable  of  enjoying  any  preferment  in  the 
church,  unless  he  should,  within  six  months,  take  the 
engagement  publicly  before  a  congregation.  The 
consequence  of  this  was,  that  while  the  engagement 
was  readily  taken  by  all  the  sectarians,  and  by  many 
Episcopalians  of  lax  principles,  it   was  refused  by 

*  Dr.  Laing's  Relig.  and  Educ.  in  America,  p.  125,  and 
Hethcrington,  p.  269. 


88  HISTORY    OF    THE 

great  numbers  of  the  Presbyterians,  several  of  whom 
were  in  a  short  time  ejected  from  the  situations  to 
which  they  had  been  appointed  by  the  parliament. 
Cromwell  and  his  council,  carrying  into  full  execu- 
tion this  course  of  procedure,  certainly  not  that  of 
toleration,  immediately  placed  Independents  in  the 
situations  thus  rendered  vacant  by  the  ejection  of 
the  Presbyterians,  prohibited  the  publication  of 
pamphlets  censuring  the  conduct  of  the  new  govern- 
ment, and  abolished  the  monthly  fasts,  which  had 
continued  to  be  regularly  kept  for  about  seven  years, 
and  whose  sacred  influence  had  often  been  deeply  and 
beneficially  felt  by  both  parliament  and  assembly." 

During  the  reign  of  Cromwell,  when  the  Inde- 
pendents were  in  chief  power,  were  not  many  of  the 
existing  sects,  such  as  the  Levellers,  the  Fifth-Mon- 
archy men,  the  Socinians,  the  Antinomians,  the 
Quakers,  &-c.,  forcibly  suppressed  ?*  Did  not  the 
leading  Independent  ministers  bring  before  the  com- 
mittee of  triers,  in  1654,  a  series  of  requests,  in  the 

*•  Hetherington,  p.  286. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  89 

form  of  a  representation,  one  article  of  which  was  as 
follows  :*  "  That  this   honorable    committee  be  de- 
sired to  propose  to  the  parliament,  that  such  who  do 
not  receive  those  principles  of  religion,  without  ac- 
knowledgment whereof  the  Scriptures  do  clearly  and 
plainly  affirm  that  salvation  is  not  to  be  obtained,  as 
those  formerly  complained  of  by  the  ministers,  may 
not  be  suffered  to  preach  or  promulgate  any  thing  in 
opposition    unto   such   principles."     And    when,  in 
consequence  of  this  representation,  it  was    agreed 
"  that  all  should  be  tolerated  who  professed  the  fun- 
damentals of  Christianity,"  and  a  committee  of  di- 
vines, including  Goodwin,  Nye,  and  other  Independ- 
ents, were  appointed  to  draw  up  a  list  of  fundamental 
articles,  did  they  not  present  such  an  enumeration  as 
effectually  to  exclude  from  all  toleration  Deists,  Pa- 
pists, Socinians,  Arians,  Antinomians,  Quakers,  and 
even  Arminians?t     Did  not  their  mightiest   cham- 
pions, and  the  great  teachers  of  the  doctrine  of  toler- 

*  Neal,  Vol.  II.,  p.  621,622. 
t  Ibid.,  Vol.11.,  p.  621,622, 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ation,  and  that,  too,  while  discussing  this  very  sub- 
ject, exclude  Romanists  from  any  possible  toleration  ?* 
And  had  the  Independents  been  in  a  similar  majority 
with  the  Presbyterians,  and  possessed  the  same  pow- 
er, would  they  have  been  as  willing  to  tolerate  as 
were  these  same  Presbyterians?  Let  Dr.  John  Ed- 
wards answer.  "  I  am  confidently  persuaded,"  says 
this  writer,  "  and  so  I  believe  are  all  wise  men  that 
have  observed  the  ways  of  the  sectaries,  that  if  they 
had  been  in  the  place  of  the  Presbyterians,  having 
had  their  power,  number,  authority,  and  the  Presby- 
terians had  been  a  small  number  as  they  were,  and 
should  have  offered  to  have  done  but  the  twentieth 
part  of  that  in  preaching,  writing,  &c.,  which  the 
sectaries  have  done  against  the  Presbyterians,  they 
would  have  trod  them  down  as  mire  in  the  street, 
casting  them  out  in  scorn  before  this  time  of  day,  nor 
have  suffered  a  Presbyterian  to  preach  among  us,  or 

*  Milton's  Prose  Works,  Vol.  IV.,  264,  265— "  Of  True 
Religion,"  &c.  Locke  on  Toleration,  in  Works,  Vol.  II., 
342,  343,  4to  ed. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  91 

to  have  been  in  any  place  or  office,  military  or  civil, 
but  all  would  have  been  shut  up  in  prison,  banished, 
or  else  hiding  themselves  in  holes  and  corners  ;  many 
godly  persons,  in  some  places,  having  much  ado  now 
to  hold  up  their  heads  to  live  by  them,  to  preach 
quietly,  to  go  safely  in  the  streets,  or  to  be  quiet  in 
their  houses."  And  if  this  testimony  is  not  sufficient, 
then  we  would  point  to  the  New-England  colonies, 
where  Independency,  as  it  was  then  termed,  did  at- 
tain to  absolute  power,  and  to  the  actual  persecution 
and  intolerance  which  was  long  practised  among 
them,  as  demonstrative  proof  that  Independents  can 
lay  no  peculiar  claim  to  an  early  practice  of  tolera- 
tion, nor  boast  themselves  over  their  Presbyterian 
brethren. 

Shall  we  now  compare  the  conduct  of  the  Pres- 
byterians with  that  of  Prelatists,  both  previously  and 
subsequently  to  these  times?  But  will  they  endure  a 
moment's  comparison?  "Supposing,"  to  use  the 
words  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,*  "  that  the  republi- 
can religionists  of  those  days  had  been  more  uncon- 
*  Oct.  1836,  p.  53. 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ciliatory  to  their  spiritual  opponents  than  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England, — supposing  that  they 
had  imprisoned,  and  mutilated,  and  butchered  greater 
numbers, — even  then  would  it  be  a  gross  injustice  to 
brand  their  intolerance  with  as  much  moral  turpitude. 
Despotic  cruelty,  and  retaliation,  is  each  to  be  ranked 
-as  a  crime  in  our  moral  codes;  but  assuredly  as  a 
crime  of  higher  or  lower  gradation  than  the  other. 
Wantonness  and  cold-blooded  deliberation  enhance 
the  guilt  of  the  one ;  the  partial  infusion  of  justice 
and  the  hurry  of  passion  diminish  the  guilt  of  the 
other.  And  be  it  remembered  that  these  were  the 
precise  moral  distinctions  of  the  Episcopalian  and 
Republican.  The  former  had  haughtily  trampled 
down,  without  any  necessity,  all  who  dared  to  dissent 
from  their  pretensions  ;  the  latter,  when  the  hour  of 
requital  came,  had  higher  reasons  for  gratifying  their 
vengeance.  We  are  far — very  far — from  exculpating 
the  Presbyterians ;  they  would  have  shown  a  glorious 
magnanimity  and  a  Christian  piety  in  overlooking 
wrongs ;  but,  nevertheless,  we  must  protest  against 
their  being  equalized  with  their  foes."     It  would  be 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  93 

idle  in  us  to  say  that  the  opponents  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  in  "  no  instances  intolerant.  Educa- 
tion, passion,  kept  many  of  them  ignorant  of  the 
true  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  But  it 
is  beyond  bearing,  that  party-spirit  should  make  a 
man  so  purblind  to  facts,  and  so  self-contradictory, 
as  to  prompt  him  to  institute  any  thing  like  a  com- 
parison between  the  intolerance  of  Charles  I.  and  the 
intolerance  of"  his  opponents. 

"  That  during  the  Protectorate,"  continues  the 
Review,  "  there  were  many  instances  of  unright- 
eous oppression ;  that  there  were  numerous  se- 
questrations of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  which  were 
most  indefensible,  must  be  admitted.  But  the  calm 
observer  of  these  times  will  perceive,  that  revenge^ 
not  religious  intolerance,  caused  such  proceedings : 
and,  INASMUCH  as  the  leading  ministers  of  reli- 
gion iiAU  no  part  in  these  retaliations,  tiiey 
are  not  to  be  urged  against  them  as  proofs  op 
religious  or  political  insincerity." 

But  who,  we  further  ask,  were  ihe  Episcopal 
ministers   who    were    thus    ejected,    and   on   what 


94  HISTORY    OF    THE 

grounds  were  they  thus  treated?  "They  cast  out," 
says  Baxter,*  "the  grosser  sort  of  insufficient  and 
scandalous  clergy,  and  some  few  civil  men,  that  had 
acted  in  the  wars  for  the  king ;  but  left  in  near  one 
half  of  those  that  were  but  barely  tolerable."  He  fur- 
ther states,  "that  in  the  counties  where  he  was  ac- 
quainted, six  to  one  of  the  sequestered  ministers  were, 
by  the  oaths  of  witnesses,  proved  insufficient,  or  scan- 
dalous, or  both."  This  ejectment,  then,  does  not 
admit  of  a  comparison  with  that  which  took  place 
at  the  restoration,  for  non-conformity.  In  this  case, 
the  principal  ground  was  either  political,  because 
they  were  considered  enemies  to  the  existing  gov- 
ernment, or,  because  they  were  totally  unfit  for  the 
sacred  office  of  the  ministry  ;  whereas  the  ejected 
ministers  of  1662  were  loyal  subjects  of  the  king, 
had  had  a  considerable  share  in  his  restoration,  and 
were  certainly  among  the  most  pious  and  best  quali- 
fied ministers  in  the  kingdom.  There  was  another 
striking  difference  in  the  two  cases  :  in  the  ejectment 

*  Dr.  A.  Alexander's  Hist,  of  the  Westminster  Assembly 
of  Divines,  p.  142. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  95 

by  parliament,  one-fifth  of  the  income  of  all  eject- 
ed ministers  was  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
their  wives  and  children ;  whereas,  in  the  case  of 
those  ministers  cast  out  after  the  restoration,  no  pro- 
vision whatever  was  made  for  the  suffering  families 
of  the  ejected  ministers;  but  on  the  contrary,  by  se- 
vere penalties,  they  were  prohibited  from  coming 
within  five  miles  of  any  incorporated  town;  so  that 
their  opportunities  of  making  a  living  by  teaching,  or 
in  any  other  way,  were  exceedingly  circumscribed." 
When  prelacy  had  again  triumphed ;  when,  through 
the  agency  of  Presbyterians,  the  king  was  restored 
to  his  throne ;  when  all  power  was  in  the  hands  of 
Episcopalians;  when  Presbyterians  confided  in  their 
oaths  and  promises  of  conciliation  and  kindness  ;  who 
can  palliate  that  act  of  barbarous  intolerance  by 
which  two  thousand  ministers  were  thus  ejected,  in 
opposition  to  the  petitions,  prayers,  and  tears  of  their 
parishioners, — and  then  hunted  down,  fined,  impris- 
oned, and  made  to  suffer  a  thousand  deaths? 

"The  questions  between  the  revengeful  Episco- 
pate that  followed  the  second  Charles,  and  those  who 


96 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


afterwards  were  driven  to  non-conformity,  were,"  to 
continue  the  words  of  the  Review,  "not  whether  that 
should  be  the  religion  of  the  state — not  whether  the 
Episcopacy  should  retain  its  government  and  reve- 
nues— not  whether  the  liturgy  should  be  preserved ; 
but  whether  the  '  Apocrypha'  should  receive  sanction 
the  same  as  inspiration — whether  a  few  exceptiona- 
ble passages  in  the  ritual  should  be  modified.  These, 
and  just  such  unimportant  differences  as  these,  were 
under  agitation.  Let  us  hear  Mr.  Lathbury,*  in  his 
recent  defence  of  the  prelacy.  '  The  alliance,'  he 
says,  '  between  church  and  state,  the  lawfulness  of  a 
prescribed  form,  and  other  points,  on  which  modern 
Dissenters  entertain  such  strong  opinions,  were  never 
questioned  by  the  Presbyterians,  either  prior  to  or 
at  the  Conference  ;  nay,  the  necessity  of  an  estab- 
lished church  was  insisted  on  as  strongly  by  the  one 
party  as  the  other.'  The  intolerance  of  an  ungrate- 
ful Episcopate — one  unhumbled  by  her  afflictions — 
was  therefore  for  the  single  purpose  of  revenge.  No 
matters  of  principle  entered  into  the  discussion. "f 

*  P.  55,  Edinburgh  Rev.,  Oct.,  18.%.     f  See  also  Appendix. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  97 


SECTION    VI. 

PRESBYTERIANISM  VINDICATED  FROM  THE  CHARGE  OF  HAV- 
ING GIVEN  ORIGIN  TO  INNUMERABLE  SECTS,  AND  THE 
SUBJECT    CONCLUDED. 

So  much,  then,  for  the  charge  of  intolerance. 
But  it  is  also  alleged  by  Prelatists  that  the  system  of 
Presbytery,  as  introduced  by  this  Assembly,  has  re- 
sulted only  in  the  introduction  of  innumerable  sects, 
and  that  its  tendency  is  to  degenerate  into  Socinian- 
ism  and  every  error.  Never,  however,  was  there  a 
mistake  more  glaring,  or  a  calumny  more  monstrous. 
It  would  be  easy  to  show,  did  time  permit,  that  Pres- 
byterianism  was  never  generally  established  in  Eng- 
land ;  that  the  ordinance  of  parliament  took  effect 
only  in  a  very  few  counties;  that  tl>e  system,  as  re- 
cognized by  parliament,  was  shorn  of  its  strength  and 
deprived  of  all  power  of  discipline  and  independent 
jurisdiction :   and  that  even  as  it  was  established  in 


• 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE 

some  places,  it  had  but  little  time  and  opportunity  to 
exemplify  its  tendencies.*  It  was  strangled  almost 
in  its  birth,  by  the  young  Hercules  of  Independency, 
and,  after  lingering  out  a  dying  existence,  was  finally 
crushed  by  the  strong  hand  of  prelatic  power.  It  is, 
we  have  seen,  a  fact  easily  explained  by  these  cir- 
cumstances, that  the  Confessionof  Faith  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly  was  not  subscribed  by  any  member 
of  that  body  except  the  prolocutor,  assessors,  and 
clerks,  nor  was  an  assent  to  it  required  from  any 
minister  or  layman,  as  a  term  of  ecclesiastical  com- 
munion, for  forty  years  afterwards. t  Presbytery  had 
no  authority  to  carry  out  its  principles.  Its  courts  of 
review  were  nullified,  its  laws  emasculated,  and  its 
standards  converted  into  mere  paper  proclamations. 
To  impute,  therefore,  the  results  which  followed  at 

*  See  Neal,  Vol.  IV.,  204.  Price's  Hist.,  II.,  340,  408. 
Owen's  Works,  20,  322.  Orrae's  Life  of  Baxter,  p.  71,  72, 
80,  81.  Baxter's  Disput.  on  Ch.  Gov't.,  Pref.,  p.  28  and  p. 
328.     Henderson's  Review^  and  Consid.,  p.  33. 

t  Neal,  III.,  32f),  Note  by  the  Editor,  and  references 
there  given. 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  99 

this  time  in  England  to  the  system  of  Presbytery,  is 
most  preposterous  and  absurd.  Presbytery  found  the 
seeds  of  these  pestiferous  evils  growing  up  into  ma- 
turity around  it.  They  were  the  offspring  of  the 
previous  ignorance  and  superstitions  of  the  people, 
which  embraced  the  first  opportunity  afforded  by  the 
license  of  the  times,  to  shoot  forth  into  vigorous 
growth.  These  sects  were  everywhere  and  always 
denounced  and  opposed  by  Presbytery.  They,  in 
turn,  regarded  Presbytery  as  their  most  powerful  en- 
emy, and  hence  were  they  all  found  combined  in 
fell  hostility  to  its  system  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and 
order.  So  that  instead  of  fostering  these  sectaries, 
the  truth  is,  that  Presbytery  actually  fell  a  victim  to 
their  relentless  hate.  No — would  we  trace  these 
evils  to  their  source,  we  must  go  back  to  the  lordli- 
ness, profaneness  and  superstition,  to  the  ceremonies, 
doctrine  and  worship,  of  the  prelates.* 

But  we  may  meet  this  calumny  by  an  appeal  to 
facts.      In  France   and   Geneva   a   Presbytery    was 

*  See  Prynnc'>5  Eng.  Prel.  II.,  505. 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE 

established,  and  there,  so  long  as  it  was  allowed  to 
call  forth  into  exercise  its  internal  energies,  there 
were  neither  sects  nor  schisms.  These  churches 
have  since  been  corrupted  only  by  the  Erastian  in- 
terference of  the  state,  and  the  destruction  of  all  ec- 
clesiastical discipline.  In  Scotland  Presbytery  was 
established,  and  there  dissenters  are  not  as  one  to  a 
hundred,    compared    with   England.*      In    Ireland 

*  "A  few  facts,"  says  Mr.  Lorimer,  in  his  Manual  of 
Presbytery,  p.  192,  193,  "may  be  noticed  in  this  connection, 
not  usually  adverted  to,  but  fitted  to  correct  misapprehen- 
sions, and  honor  Presbytery.  According  to  the  late  census, 
the  population  of  Presbyterian  Scotland  is  about  one-sixth  of 
that  of  Episcopalian  England  and  Wales.  Hence,  if  the  coun- 
tries were  the  same  in  point  of  religious  divisions  on  church- 
government,  Scotland  should  have  a  sixth  of  the  parties 
which  divide  England.  The  result  is  widely  different ; 
much  more  creditable  to  the  religious  unity  of  Scotland,  and 
the  strength  of  Presbytery  over  a  nation.  The  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  England  and  Wales  are  estimated  to  have  1600 
congregations.  If  the  same  division  of  opinion  on  church- 
government    prevailed    in    Scotland,   proportionally,    there 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  101 

Presbytery  was  planted  in  the  province  of  Ulster,  and 
has  it  not  acted  as  a  purifying  element  in  that  land  of 

should  be    nearly  270   Independent  congregations.     There 
are  only  105,  and  21  of  these  are  reported  as  vacant. 

The  Baptists  of  England  and  Wales  are  rated  at  1520.  If 
the  same  proportion  held  in  Scotland,  there  should  be  much 
the  same  number — 270  congregations ;  instead  of  which, 
there  are  58. 

The  Wesleyan  Methodists  have,  in  England  and  Wales, 
above  1100  preachers,  and  about  3;:0,000  members.  In  the 
same  proportion,  in  Scotland,  there  should  have  been  about 
200  preachers,  and  55,000  members;  instead  of  which,  there 
are  only  30  preachers,  and  3700  members. 

The  Roman  Catholics  have  5G1  priests  in  England  and 
Wales,  and  18  convents.  Were  Scotland  equally  divided,  or 
did  it  equally  favor  the  same  soul-destroying  system,  it  should 
have  had  93  priests,  and  three  convents.  It  has  80  of  the 
one,  and  one  of  the  other  ;  and  that,  though  old  Popery  has 
held  some  parts  of  the  Highlands  and  islands  as  its  ancient 
seat,  undisturbed  by  the  Reformation,  and  though  near 
neighborhood  to  Popish  Ireland  has,  in  later  daj's,  given  it 
superior  facilities,  which  have  not  been  unimproved,  for 
invading  the  Scottish  shores. 

I  have  not  been  able  precisely  to  ascertain  the  numbers 


102  HISTORY    OF    THE 

spiritual  corruption  and  death?  In  New  England,  so 
long  as  a  system  closely  resembling  the  Presbyte- 
rian was  strictly  enforced,  error,  heresy,  and  immo- 
rality, were  comparatively  unknown.  In  Virginia 
Presbytery  was  planted,  and  did  it  not  restore  truth 
and  piety  to  the  church  ;  impart  vigor  and  energy 
to  the  state  ;  uproot  the  system  of  state  religion,  and 
introduce  that  entire  severance  between  religion  and 
the  civil  power,  which  is  now  the  glorious  peculiarity 
of  this  land  of  freedom  ? 

In  fine,  to  apply  to  the  Presbyterian  party  gener- 
ally, w'hat  Milton  says  of  the  Long  Parliament : 
"  Having  by  a  solemn  protestation  vowed  themselves 
and  the  kingdom  anew  to  God  and  his  service,  meet- 
ing next,  as  I  may  so  resemble,  with  the  second  life  of 
tyranny  (for  she  was  grown  an  ambiguous  monster, 
and  to  be  slain  in  two  shapes)  guarded  with  super- 

of  the  Socinian  body  in  England  and  Wales.  Probably  they 
may  count  300  congregations.  According  to  this  proportion, 
Scotland  should  have  50  ;  but  so  sound  has  Presbytery  kept 
the  country,  that  she  has  not  five." 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  103 

stition,  which  hath  no  small  power  to  captivate 
the  minds  of  men  otherwise  most  wise,  they  neither 
were  taken  with  her  mitred  hypocrisy,  nor  terrified 
with  the  push  of  her  bestial  horns,  but  breaking  them 
immediately,  forced  her  to  unbend  the  pontifical  brow 
and  recoil ;  which  repulse  only  given  to  the  prelates 
(that  we  may  imagine  how  happy  their  removal  would 
be)  was  the  producement  of  such  glorious  effects  and 
consequences  in  the  church,  that  if  I  should  compare 
them  with  those  exploits  of  highest  fame  in  poems 
and  panegyricks  of  old,  I  am  certain  it  would  but 
diminish  and  impair  their  work,  who  are  now  my  ar- 
gument :  for  these  ancient  worthies  delivered  men 
from  such  tyrants  as  were  content  to  enforce  only  an 
outward  obedience,  letting  the  mind  be  as  free  as  it 
could;  but  these  have  freed  us  from  a  doctrine  of 
tyranny,  that  offered  violence  and  corruption  even  to 
the  inward  persuasion.  They  set  at  liberty  nations 
and  cities  of  men,  good  and  bad  mixed  together ;  but 

*  See  McCrie's  Unity,  p.  160,  161 ,  165— McCrie's  Scott. 
Hist.,  p.  108,  106. 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE 

these,  opening  the  dungeons  and  prisons,  called  out 
of  darkness  and  bonds  the  elect  martyrs  and  wit- 
nesses of  their  Redeemer.  They  restored  the  body  to 
ease  and  wealth  ;  but  these,  the  oppressed  conscience 
to  that  freedom  which  is  the  chief  prerogative  of  the 
gospel ;  taking  off  those  cruel  burdens  imposed  not 
by  necessity,  as  other  tyrants  are  wont,  or  the  safe- 
guard of  their  lives,  but  laid  upon  our  necks  by  the 
strange  wilfulness  and  wantonness  of  a  needless  and 
jolly  persecutor,  called  Indifference.  Lastly,  some 
of  these  ancient  deliverers  have  had  immortal  praise 
for  preserving  some  of  their  citizens  from  a  famine  of 
corn.  But  these,  by  this  only  repulse  of  an  unholy 
hierarchy,  almost  in  a  moment  replenished  with  sav- 
ing knowledge  their  country,  nigh  famished  for  want 
of  that  which  should  feed  their  souls.  All  this  being 
done  while  two  armies  in  the  field  stood  gazing  on  : 
the  one  in  reverence  of  such  nobleness,  quietly  gave 
back  and  dislodged  ;  the  other,  in  spite  of  the  unruli- 
ness  and  doubted  fidelity  in  some  regiments,  was 
either  persuaded  or  compelled  to  disband  and  retire 
home." 


WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY.  105 

But  we  must  here  pause.  Enough  has  been  said 
to  constitute  a  sufficient  claim  to  our  gratitude,  and  a 
justification  of  the  wisdom  of  this  commemoration. 
Romanists  receive  their  missal  almost  as  inspiration, 
and  yet  it  is  an  inharmonious  patchwork,  compiled 
from  materials  drawn  from  every  period  of  the 
church,  like  some  old  cathedral  made  up  of  buildings 
of  every  order,  variety,  and  age.  Episcopalians  are 
never  weary  of  praising  their  liturgy,  which  is  never- 
theless all  borrowed,  and  filled  with  endless  repeti- 
tions. And  both  Romanists  and  Prelatists  laud  to 
the  skies  their  articles  and  creeds,  which  admit  the 
most  contrary  and  latitudinarian  interpretations,*  and 
shall  not  Presbyterians  honor  and  commemorate  those 
men  who  have  given  to  us  original  standards,  drawn, 
not  from  the  muddy  streams  of  human  authority,  but 
from  the  pure  and  uncorrupted  fountain  of  everlast- 
ing truth  1 

*  Witness  the  Oxford  Tractarians,  the  Nevvmanites,  and 
the  Evangelical  parties  in  England,  and  the  respective  in- 
terpretations of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carey  and  Drs.  Smith  and  An- 
thon  in  our  own  countrv. 


106  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Americans  annually  celebrate  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  preserve  the  memory  of  its  glori- 
ous signers  ?  And  shall  not  Presbyterians  commem- 
orate the  fame  of  those  men  to  whom  that  declaration 
and  the  spirit  that  gave  it  birth  can  be  assuredly 
traced  ? 

The  Israelites  observed  an  annual  festival  in 
grateful  commemoration  of  their  deliverance  from 
the  bondage  of  Egypt,  and  on  different  occasions 
contributed  most  liberally  to  the  advancement  of 
their  ecclesiastical  interests  ; — and  shall  we  be  found 
less  zealous  in  the  remembrance  of  our  deliverance 
from  the  bondage  of  Romish  and  Prelatical  tyranny, 
or  less  willing  to  communicate  of  our  substance  to 
carry  on,  to  diffuse,  and  to  establish  those  civil  and 
religious  blessings  which  have  been  achieved  for  us 
by  blood  ? 

This  centennial  celebration  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  is  most  timely  and  auspicious.  In  the 
standards  of  that  body  there  is  a  common  and  sub- 
stantial basis,  upon  which  all  orthodox,  non-episcopal 
communions  can  harmoniously  unite.     It  is  astonish- 


WESTMINSTEIl    ASSEMBLY.  107 

ing  to  find  how  very  nearly  the  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists  in  that  body  were  agreed.  In 
all  that  was  essential  they  were  as  one.  And  wher- 
ever the  doctrines  of  these  standards  are  fully  and 
cordially  embraced,  is  there  not  still  the  same  essen- 
tial unity  1  There  is,  among  all  such,  by  whatever 
name  they  are  called,  and  however  in  subordinate 
matters  they  may  differ,  "  there  is  one  body,  and 
one  spirit,  even  as  we  are  called,  in  one  hope  of  our 
calling  ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  one 
God  and  Father  of  all."  Are  we  not  all  brethren, 
and  members  together  of  the  household  of  faith  1  We 
are.  By  all  the  marks  of  the  true  church  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  laid  down  in  the  word  of  God  ;  by  all  the 
piinciples  which  constitute  the  glorious  gospel  of  the 
blessed  God ;  by  all  the  tests  of  piety  and  the  evi- 
dences of  Christian  character ;  by  all  those  hopes 
and  aims  and  labors  to  which  the  Christian  is  called 
of  God — we  are  one.  This  epoch  is  our  common 
anniversary.  We  are  alike  interested  in  its  glorious 
recollections  and  in  its  forthcoming  destinies.  We 
feel  on  this  occasion  that,  notwithstanding  our  differ- 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ences  in  ecclesiastical  arrangements,  and  baptismal 
forms,  we  are  one.  Like  the  members  of  a  large 
family  we  have  been  scattered,  and  lived  apart,  and 
gathered  around  us  new  and  separate  interests.  But 
we  are  on  this  occasion  brought  together.  We  revisit 
our  old  ancestral  homestead.  We  read  over  the  ori- 
ginal deeds  by  which  we  became  heirs  to  the  same 
rich  inheritance.  The  ties  of  blood  draw  our  hearts 
together,  and  we  embrace  one  another  in  the  arms  of 
spiritual  affection. 

This,  brethren,  is  to  me  the  happiest  issue  to 
which  this  commemoration  leads.  It  will  serve  to 
promote  other  valuable  ends.  It  will  contribute  to 
the  establishment  of  the  minds  of  our  youth  in  the 
principles  of  our  ecclesiastical  polity,  and  thus  pre- 
vent apostasy.  It  will  tend  to  the  greater  elevation 
and  usefulness  of  our  Assembly's  Board  of  Publica- 
tion, by  creating  a  demand  for  works  of  denomina- 
tional instruction.  But  its  adaptation  to  promote 
unity  among  the  different  branches  of  the  church 
who  hold  the  truth,  is  most  auspicious.  It  has  al- 
ready given  birth  to  overtures  of  union  and  friendly 


WESTMINSTEU    ASSEMBLY.  109' 

co-operation,  on  the  common  basis  of  Protestant 
evangelical  truth,  among  all  the  orthodox,  non-epis- 
copal churches  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  it  will,  we 
trust,  eventuate  in  a  solemn  league  and  covenant 
among  all  such,  for  the  defence  of  our  common  rights 
against  our  common  enemies.  Triumphing  in  our 
alienations,  these  enemies  have  come  up  in  all  their 
might  against  us.  They  are  at  our  gates.  We  hear 
their  loud  bravado  shouts  of  anticipated  victory.  But, 
thank  God,  our  hearts  are  not  daunted.  God  has 
given  to  us  the  spirit  of  courage  and  of  confident 
hope.  He  has  enkindled  within  us  the  feelings  of 
Christian  brotherhood  and  love.  Against  Popery, 
Prelacy  in  its  high-church  phase,  and  heresy,  we 
are  one.  And  endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  we  shall  henceforth  be 
found  contending  earnestly  for  our  common  princi- 
ples, and  for  that  faith  which  was  once  delivered  to 
the  saints,  until  God  shall  give  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  May  God  grant  it,  and  to 
his  name  shall  be  all  the  praise. 
6 


APPENDIX. 

THE    OBJECTION    FOUKDEB    UPON    THE    PERSECUTING     PRINCI-  ' 
PLES  AND   CONDUCT  OF    PRESBYTERIANS,  ANSWERED. 

From  the  Author's  w«rk  on  Ecclesiastical  Republicanism. 

But  an  overwhelming  argument  is  brought  to  bear 
against  all  these  claims  to  superior  liberality,  on  the 
ground  that  the  Presbyterian  church  has,  in  past  days, 
cherished  exclusive  and  persecuting  principles,  and 
manifested  this  spirit  in  her  conduct ;  and  that  some 
Presbyterian  bodies  are  still  found  willing  to  sanction 
these  principles.*     Now   to  the  truth  of  both  these 

*  Dr.  How's  Vind.  of  Prot.  Ep.  Ch.  pp.  47,  48,  374,  375. 
Tliis  cliarge  is  not  seldom  also  brought  against  us  by  Con- 
gregationalists,  who  stand  in  need  of  a  common  defence.  But 
that,  in  former  days,  they  made  their  views  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  a  church  an  article  of  faitli,  appertaining  to  salvation, 
may  be  seen  by  numerous  quotations  in  Pagct'sDef.  of  Presb. 


APPENDIX.  Ill 

facts,  we  grant  our  reluctant  and  most  sorrowful  con- 
fession. And  while  much  might  be  said  to  palliate 
the  guilt  of  such  intolerance,  and  to  show  that  in  com- 
parison with  the  course  pursued  by  the  Papacy  and 
the  Prelacy,  it  was  fitful,  temporary,  and  partial,  while 
their  intolerance  has  been  constant,  universal,  and 
applied  to  ojmiions  as  well  as  to  forms  ; — yet  we  take 
refuge  in  no  apology.*  We  make  no  excuse.  We 
are  rather  willing  to  join  in  the  execration  of  such  prin- 
ciples, and  the  condemnation  of  such  acts,  (so  far  as 
facts  will  show  that  they  were  cherished  and  carried 

Cli.  Govt.  p.  33.  As  to  the  lengths  to  v\  liicli  they  then  pro- 
ceeded, see  Bastwick's  Utter  Routing,  «&c.  Epistle  to  the 
Reader.  See  also  the  history  of  their  proceedings  in  New 
England,  as  given  in  Clark's  Hist,  of  Intolerance,  vol.  i.  Pref., 
and  in  all  other  histories.  Dr.  Lang's  Relig.  and  Ediic.  in 
America,  p.  125,  &c.,  vvliere  he  shows  that  '  CroinvvcH's  own 
clergy,' accepted  sequestered  benefices  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. See  further,  on  this  subject,  from  Mr.  Lorimer,  on  p.  232. 

This  forms  the  whole  strength  of  Bishop  Hughes's  argu- 
ment in  proof  of  the  opposition  of  Prcsbytcrianismlo  civil  and 
religious  liberty.     See  Discussion. 

*  Sec  Dr.  Binney's  Dissent  not  Schism,  p.  74,  though  an 
Independent. 


1  12  APPENDIX. 

out,)  as  utterly  alien  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and 
to  the  genius  of  Presbyterianism.  And  that  a  portion 
of  the  Covenanters  should  still  maintain  these  views, 
is  a  fact  inexplicable  for  its  mystery,  inexcusable  for  its 
absurdity,  and  unparalleled  for  its  anomaly. 

But  what  have  we  to  do  with  the  conduct  of  these 
brethren,  with  whom,  although  agreeing  in  most 
points,  we  differ  in  this  matter  toto  ccclo  ;  with  whom 
we  have  no  ecclesiastical  connection  whatever  ;  and 
for  whose  opinions  on  this  subject  we  are  no  more  re- 
sponsible, than  we  are  as  Christians  for  the  corruptions 
of  all  those  who  are  called  by  that  name.  We  now  ad- 
vocate the  claims,  and  present  the  sentiments,  of 'the 
PRESBYTERIAN  church'  of  these  United  States.  For 
on  this  subject,  alterations  were  found  necessary,  in 
order  to  adapt  our  standards  to  the  views  of  our 
American  Zion.  We  challenge  therefore  a  fair  and 
impartial  verdict,  and  are  willing  to  compare  ourselves 
with  any  other  denomination  whatsoever.  We  do 
not,  for  a  moment,  shrink  even  from  a  comparison  of 
Presbyterianism,  in  general,  with  Prelacy,  in  general; 
but  in  this  case  we  would  require,  that  the  whole  his- 


APPENDIX. 


113 


tory  of  Prelacy,  as  developed  in  the  Romish,  Angli- 
can, and  other  churches,  should  be  considered  ;  and 
then  the  whole  history  of  Presbytery,  as  developed  in 
the  Waldenses,  Paulicians,^Culdees,  and  Scotch,  Irish, 
and  American  churches,  should  be  brought  into  con- 
trast. In  such  a  comparison,  who  can  doubt  the 
transcendent  lustre  with  which  Presbytery  would  out- 
shine Prelacy.  Its  most  intolerant  enactments  would 
appear  liberality  itself,  and  its  most  persecuting  doings 
the  forthgoings  of  Christian  charity,  when  brought 
into  contrast  with  the  bloody  annals  of  councils,  can- 
ons, decrees,  crusades,  test  acts,  acts  of  uniformity, 
Bartholomew  scenes  and  massacres,  which  constitute 
such  an  integral  portion  of  Prelatical  ecclesiastical 
history.*     Our   present  concern,   however,    is  with 

*  Dr.  McCrie's  Miscell.  Wks.  Rev.  of  the  Life  of  Owen. 
See  also  Presbyterians  vindicated  from  all  serious  persecu- 
tion, in  Lorimer's  Manual  of  Presbytery,  p.  230.  The  wri- 
ter says,  '  Tiie  Congregationalists,  tlien,  have  notliing  in 
point  o(  practice  of  which  to  boast,  over  tlieir  Presbyterian 
brethren;  and  in  regard  to  their  earlier  holding  sound  theo- 
retical views  of  toleration  and  religious  liberty,  the  same 
great  historical  authority  shows,  that  as  correct  sentiments 


114  APPENDIX. 

the  Presbyterian  church,  as  known  in  the  standards 
of  our  American  General  Assemblies,  both  old  and 

were  entertained  from  a  much  earlier  date,  by  the  Reform- 
ers and  first  Puritans,  who  were  Presbyterian  ;  that  soon 
after  the  Reformation  the  same  views  were  common  among 
the  presbyterians  of  Holland  and  France  ;  that  it  was  not 
the  principles  of  the  sectaries,  but  of  the  reformers  and  their 
successors,  which  lay,  and  still  lie,  at  the  foundation  of  Brit- 
ish freedom,  civil  and  religious  ;  that  tlie  writings  of  lead- 
ing Independents,  at  the  period  referred  to,  betray  decided 
symptoms  of  intolerance  and  persecution  ;  and  that  it  was 
the  extravagant  and  most  injurious  proceedings  of  many  of 
the  sectaries,  which,  by  driving  matters  to  extremities  in 
England,  created  a  reaction — lost  all  the  immense  advan- 
tages of  a  sound,  civil,  and  ecclesiastical  reformation,  de- 
stroyed the  monarch,  and  recalled  persecution,  with  its  hor- 
rors, under  Charles  II.' 

'  Had  this  little  work  not  already  exceeded  the  limits 
which  were  originally  intended,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
vindicate  the  Presbyterians  from  any  serious  charge  of  perse- 
cution, in  connection  with  the  signing  of  the  '  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,'  and  kindred  subjects.  It  could  be  shown, 
from  the  testimony  of  such  men  as  Henderson,  Dickson, 
Cant,  and  Lord  Loudon,  that  men  were  not  forced  to  take 
the  covenant,  or  punished  for  refusal ;  that  any  cases  of 
this  kind  were  rare  and  unauthorized  ;  that  the  league  was 


APPENDIX.  115 

new  school,  as   compared   with  the  Prelatical  com- 
munion, either  Romish  or  Protestant.  The  only  proper 

most  cordially  embraced,  without  any  compulsion  from 
church  or  state,  by  the  great  body  of  the  nation ;  and  that 
any  undue  influence  was  chiefly  employed  against  the  cov- 
enant. It  could  be  shown,  also,  from  the  exhortations  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  and  the  speeches  of  such  members 
as  Coleman,  Caryl,  Palmer,  Thorowgood,  &c.,  that  they  dis- 
approved of  the  propagation  of  religion  by  force,  and  that  it 
was  mainly  the  seditious-political,  and  not  the  erroneous-re- 
ligious, against  which  their  exertions  were  directed,  and 
which  gave  to  their  sentiments  and  proceedings  the  air  of 
persecution.  The  case  is  correctly  stated  by  '  the  Reformed 
Presbytery,'  in  their  Explanation  and  Defence  of  Terms  of 
Communion  in  1801.  'If any  otherwise  peaceable  and  in- 
offensive subjects,  in  church  and  state,  had  religious  scru- 
ples in  their  own  mind,  both  the  open  doctrine  and  uniform 
practice  of  our  pious  ancestors  recommended  all  possible  ten- 
derness in  laboring  to  have  them  removed.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  cruel  popish  factions,  under  the  fair  pre- 
tence of  only  claiming  a  liberty  to  serve  God  in  their  own 
way,  were  plotting  the  utter  ruin  of  both  church  and  state, 
and  seeking  the  overthrow  of  all  laws,  human  and  divine  ; 
in  such  a  case,  indeed,  they  could  not  help  thinking,  that 
salutary  restraint,  and  well  regulated  coercion,  were  indis- 
pensably necessary.     And  what  nation  under  heaven,  prop- 


116  APPEi^DIX. 

parallel  in  this  case,  therefore,  is  the  constitution 
and  principles  of  our  own  particular  church,  in  com- 
parison with  theirs,  and  not  of  all  who  may  bear  our 
name. 

Now,  from  the  extracts  already  presented,  it  must 
be  manifest  that  there  can  be  no  greater  liberality,  nor 
any  protest  against  both  the  spirit,  principles,  and 
practice  of  intolerance,  more  powerful  than  that  de- 
livered in  the  standards  of  our  church.  In  addition 
to  what  has  been  adduced  from  them,  let  the  follow- 
ing be  considered.  Chapter  xx.  of  our  Confession  of 
Faith,  is  on  '  Christian  Liberty  and  Liberty  of  Con- 
science.' In  this  it  is  taught,*  'God  alone  is  Lord  of  the 
conscience,  and  hath  left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  and 
commandments  of  men,  which  are  in  any  thing  con- 
trary to  his  word,  or  beside  it,  in  matters  of  faith  or 
worship.  So  that  to  believe  such  doctrines,  or  to 
obey  such  commandments,  out  of  conscience,  is  to 
betray  true  liberty  of  conscience  ;  and  the  requiring 

erly  consulting  her  own  safety  and  happiness,  in  time  of 
danger,  would  not  find  it  advisable  to  act  on  the  same  great 
principle  ?'  *  §  2,  P-  109- 


APPENDIX.  117 

an  implicit    faith,  and  an  absolute  and  blind  obedi- 
ence, is  to  destroy  liberty  of  conscience  and  reason 

also.' 

Again,  in  chapter  xxiii.  'Of  the  civil  magistrate,' 
it  is  declared,  '  civil  magistrates  may  not  assume  to 
themselves  the  administration  of  the  word  and  sa- 
craments ;  or  the  power  of  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ;  or  in  the  least  interfere  in  matters  of 
faith.  Yet,  as  nursing-fathers,  it  is  the  duty  of 
civil  magistrates  to  protect  the  church  of  our  com- 
mon Lord,  without  giving  the  preference  to  any 
denomination  of  Christians  above  the  rest,  in  such  a 
manner,  that  all  ecclesiastical  persons  whatever  shall 
enjoy  the  full,  free,  and  unquestioned  liberty  of  dis- 
charging every  part  of  their  sacred  functions  without 
violence  or  danger.  And  as  Jesus  Christ  hath  ap- 
pointed a  regular  government  and  discipline  in  his 
church,  no  law  of  any  commonwealth  should  interfere 
Avith,  let,  or  hinder,  the  due  exercise  thereof,  among 
the  voluntary  members  of  any  denomination  of  Chris- 
tians, according  to  their  own  profession  and  belief. 


118  APPENDIX. 

It  is  the  duty  of  civil  magistrates  to  protect  the  per- 
son and  good  name  of  all  their  people,  in  such  an  ef- 
fectual manner,  as  that  no  person  be  suffered,  either 
upon  pretence  of  religion  or  infidelity,  to  offer  any  in- 
dignity, violence,  abuse,  or  injury,  to  any  other  person 
whatsoever  ;  and  to  take  order,  that  all  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  assemblies  be  held  without  molestation 
or  disturbance.' 

'  It  is  the  duty  of  the  people  to  pray  for  magistrates, 
to  honor  their  persons,  to  pay  them  tribute  and  other 
dues,  to  obey  their  lawful  commands,  and  to  be  sub- 
ject to  their  authority,  for  conscience'  sake.  Infi- 
delity or  indifference  in  religion  doth  not  make 
void  the  magistrate's  just  and  legal  authority,  nor  free 
the  people  from  their  due  obedience  to  him  ;  from 
which  ecclesiastical  persons  are  not  exempted  ;  much 
less  hath  the  pope  any  power  or  jurisdiction  over 
them  in  their  dominions,  or  over  any  of  their  people  ; 
and  least  of  all,  to  deprive  them  of  their  dominions 
or  lives,  if  he  shall  judge  them  to  be  heretics,  or  upon 
any  other  pretence  whatsoever,' 


APPENDIX.  119 

So  also  in  Form  of  Government,  chapter  i.  sec- 
tion 1,  as  quoted  above,*  and  in  chapter  viii.  sec- 
tions, where,  speaking  of  all  our  ecclesiastical  courts, 
it  teaches,  '  These  assemblies  ought  not  to  possess 
any  civil  jurisdiction,  nor  to  inflict  any  civil  pen- 
alties. Their  power  is  wholly  moral  or  spiritual, 
and  that  only  ministerial  and  declarative.' 

To  this  let  me   add  the  following  extracts    from 

*  An  Ecclesiastical  Catechism  of  the  .Presbyterian 
Church,'  by  the  author,  which  has  been  approved  by 
various  portions  of  our  church,  and  by  some  of 
its  leading  divines. t  In  chapter  v.  section  1,  'Of  the 
nature  of  church  power,'  it  is  asked,  '  Is  the  power 
which  church  officers  possess,  such  as  to  affect  the 
civil  interests  of  men  V 

'  No  ;  it  is  altogether  ecclesiastical ;  and  such  as  to 
affect  men  only  in  their  relation  to  the  church,  and 
to  God.' 

'  How  else  may  you  describe  this  power  of  the 
church?  It  is  spiritual,  and  addressed  to  the  con- 
sciences of  those  who  are  subject  to  it.' 

*  Eccles.  Rep.  p.  218.    t  A  third  edition  has  been  called  for. 


120  APPENDIX. 

'  Have  church  officers  any  power  or  authority, 
even  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  independently,  or  in 
themselves  considered?  None  whatever — they  act 
altogether  ministerially.' 

'  Do  Presbyterians,  in  our  country,  ascribe  any 
power  to  the  church,  which  interferes  with  the  au- 
thorities of  the  state?  No;  Presbyterians  maintain, 
that  the  church  is  independent  of  the  state,  and  dis- 
tinct from  it,  in  its  laws,  its  administrations,  and  its 
objects  ;  and  that  it  is  governed  by  its  own  laws,  which 
are  purely  spiritual.' 

'  Do  Presbyterians  in  our  country  desire,  then, 
any  alliance  between  their  church  and  the  state  ?  On 
the  contrary,  they  believe,  that  any  such  alliance  ever 
has  been,  and  ever  will  be,  equally  injurious  to  the 
state  and  to  the  church;  and  that  it  is  to  be  depre- 
cated by  every  Christian,  as  the  baneful  source  of 
corruption  and  intolerance.'* 

*  The  only  portions  of  our  standards,  besides  the  doctrines 
of  election  and  predestination,  which  Bishop  Hughes  could 
pervert  to  a  sense  opposite  to  civil  and  religious  liberty,  is  the 
explanation  given  of  the  Second  Commandment,  (Breckin- 


APPENDIX.  121 

Let  any  man  candidly  study  these  passages,  in  con- 
nection with  the  constitution  of  this  freest  and  most 


ridge  and  Hughes's  Discussion,  pp.  318,  344,  372,)  which, 
among  other  things,  is  said  to  require  '  the  disapproving,  de- 
testing, opposing,  all  false  worship  ;  and,  according  to  each 
one's  place  and  calling,  removing  it,  and  all  monuments  of 
idolatry.'  'If  I  understand  tlie  reasoning,'  says  Dr.  Breck- 
inridge, '  he  means  to  charge  us  with  holding,  \.\\at  force  of 
some  kind  is  a  duty  ;  or  that  some  method  of  '  removing  the 
monuments  of  idolatry,'  at  war  with  the  rights  of  others,  is 
expressed.  For  I  suppose  he  will  not  say,  that  if  we  oppose 
false  icorship,  and  remove  these  monuments  of  idolatry,  in  a 
constitutional  way,  and  zcithout  disturbing  tlie  riglits  of  others, 
this  would  be  zero /io',  or  against  liberty,  civil  or  religious.' 
'  He  will  not  say  that  it  is  persecution,  to  oppose  idolatry  by 
discussion,  moral  influence,  and  prayer.  The  question  then 
is,  as  to  the  vianncr  of  doing  it.  Does  our  doctrine  utter  or 
imply  tyranny,  or  force,  or  a  hinderance  to  the  free  exercise 
of  religious  worship  .'  If  so,  wc  should  like  to  know  it.  So  far 
is  this  from  being  the  fact,  that  he  has  himself  owned  '  that  the 
Confession  of  Faith  was  amended,  (at  the  adoption  of  the 
American  ConstitilMon,)  to  suit  the  constitution  and  the  new 
order  of  things.'  What  he  thus  admits  (as  ^an  amendment') 
to  be  true,  may  be  easily  shown,  bj'  reference  to  all  those 
parts  of  our  standards,  which  relate  to  the  freedom  of  wor- 


122  APPENDIX. 

liberal  of  all  governments,  and  will  he  not  say  that 
they  are,  in  spirit,  perfectly  the  same,  and  that,  in 
the  principles  delivered  in  these  standards,  our  pu- 
ritan fathers  found  the  germs,  the  elements,  of  that 
perfect  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  every  citizen 
of  this  great  republic  equally  enjoys.  Real  liberality 
cannot  possibly  coexist  with  any  system  which  does 
not  recognize  the  principle,  that  individual  convic- 
tion is  the  only  worthy  basis  of  true  faith,  and  the 
consequent  right  and  duty  of  private  judgment.  In 
this  doctrine,  the  very  essence  of  real  liberality,  both 
political  and  religious,  is  involved.  It  is  when  this 
principle  is  received  as  an  axiomatic   truth,  that  the 

ship,  and  the  use  of  force,  by  the  civil  magistrate,  in  matters 
of  conscience. 

'  Yet  it  is  not  said  of  our  particular  church,  but  of  all  Chris- 
tian denominations,  that  the  civil  magistrate  should  pro- 
tect them.  Religion  is  one  of  our  common  rights — and  a  civil 
right  to  be  protected  in  it.  But  Mr.  Hughes  replies,  this 
'  excludes  us  idolaters.'  No.  We  say  '  a^religious  and  ec- 
clesiastical assemblies,'  are  to  be  '■protected,'  though  it  be  an 
anticliristian  system.  But  sliall  we,  for  this  reason,  be  si/e7^i 
about  their  errors.'     May  we  not  use  the  liberty  of  speech  .■" ' 


APPENDIX.  123 

exercise  of  such  liberality  is  not  (as  it  is  too  often  rep- 
resented) of  the  nature  of  a  lenient  indulgence,  or 
a  benevolent  concession,  but  stands  forth,  not  on  the 
ground  of  concession,  but  of  principle, — not  of  in- 
dulgence, but  of  right, — not  of  favor,  but  of  justice, — 
not  of  compromise,  but  of  steadfast  maintenance  of  the 
truth, — each  upholding  what  he  believes  right,  with- 
out denouncing  the  other  as  wrong  ;  all  uniting  for 
objects  in  which  they  agree,  without  compromising 
one  point  in  which  they  differ.* 

Now,  as  interpreted  in  our  standards,  Christianity 
sanctions  and  does  not  destroy  this  freedom ;  ele- 
vates and  does  not  dethrone  reason  ;  encourages  and 
does  not  fetter  inquiry ;  secures  and  does  not  with- 
hold liberty  of  conscience  ;  since  it  enforces  only  a 
voluntary  subjection  to  its  requirements.  It  is  the 
doctrine  of  Bossuet,  and  the  church  to  which  he  be- 
longs, and  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
that '  all  attachment  to  private  judgment  is  heresy,  it 
being  the  property  of  a  heretic  to  have  a  particular 

*  Prof.  Powell,  of  Oxroicl,  on  State  Efliic.  London,  1840, 
pp   81,  82. 


124  APPENDIX. 

opinion.'*  And  as  this  doctrine  has  been  shown  to 
lie  at  the  very  foundation  of  American  republican- 
isjn,t  in  connection  with  the  entire  severance  of  pol- 
itics and  religion,  of  civil  and  religious  matters,  the 
absurdity  of  the  charge  of  any  connivance  at  intoler- 
ance, as  made  against  our  church,  is  as  great  as  if 
alleged  against  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
itself. 

*  Variations  of  Prot.  vol.  i.  p.  17. 
t  Tocqueville's  Denioc.  in  Am. 


THE    END. 


LATELY  PUBLISHED,  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR, 

PRESBYTEllY  AND   NOT  PRELACY 

THE  SCRIPTURAL  AND  PmMITIVE  POLITY; 


PHOVED  FROM  THE 


TestimoniM  of  Scripture ;  the  Fathers  ;  the  Schoolmen ;  the  Reformers; 
and  the  EnglUh  and  Oriental  Churches. 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  PRESBYTERY; 

INCLUDINO 
AN  ACCODNT  OF  THE  ANCIENT  CULDEE9,  AND   OF   ST.  PATRICK. 

ALSO 

ECCLESIASTICAL  REPUBLICANISM; 

OR,    THE 

REPUBLICANISM,  LIBERALITY,  AND  CATHOLICITY 

OF 

PRESBYTERY, 

IN  CONTRAST  WITH  PRELACY  AND  POPERY. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES,  WHICH  HAVE  ALREADY  APPEARID  i 

From  the  Rev.  Samuel  Miller,  D.  I).,  Professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary,  Princeton. 

I  HAVE  read  the  volume  entitled  "Presbytery  and  not  Prelacy 
,lie  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Polity,"  &c.,  with  unfeigned  and 
tiigli  pleasure;  and  although  not  able  to  acquiesce  in  every  opin- 
ion and  statement  which  it  contains,  yet  I  consider  it,  in  its  great 
outline,  as  clear,  learned,  powerful,  and  altogether  conclusive  in 
the  refutation  of  Prelacy  and  establishment  of  Presbyterianism. 
It  takes  a  more  comprehensive  and  complete  view  of  the  whole 
controversy  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  single  volume  with 
which  I  am  acquainted,  and  appears  to  me  to  be  eminently  adapted 
to  be  useful,  and  well  worthy  of  the  thanks  and  patronage  of  every 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  eminently  a  learned 
work.  The  author  has  not  suffered  himself  to  write,  as  too  many 
of  the  ignorant  and  arrogant  advocates  of  the  sect  which  he  op- 
poses have  done,  without  an  acquaintance  with  more  than  his  own 


2  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

sule  of  tlie  question.     I  doubt  whether  there  is  another  individual 

in  the  United  States  who  lias  read  so  extensively  on  this  subject, 
iind  especifilly  who  has  made  himself  so  familiar  with  the  works 
of  the  highest  and  best  authorities  of  the  Episcopal  denomination. 
Mr.  Smyth  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  the  character  of  an  able 
advocate  and  benefactor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  With  regard 
to  every  injportant  Episcopal  claim,  he  has  not  only  shown  that  it 
has  no  support  whatever  in  the  word  of  God,  but  that  it  has  been 
given  up  as  untenable  by  the  most  learned  and  venerable  authori- 
ties among  Prelatists  themselves. 

With  regard  to  the  second  w-ork,  of  smaller  size,  by  the  same 
author,  entitled  "  Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,"  it  merits  the 
same  general  character  with  its  larger  companion.  It  is  learned 
and  ample  in  its  compass,  forcible  in  its  reasoning,  and  perfectly 
unanswerable  in  its  statements  and  conclusions. 

These  works  cannot  fail  of  making  a  deep  impression  on  all 
minds  capable  of  estimating  the  weight  of  either  authority  or  argu- 
ment. Every  Presbyterian  in  the  United  States  ought  to  fee) 
himself  a  debtor  to  the  author. 


From  the  Biblical  Repertory . 

We  have  here  two  new  volumes  by  the  indefatigable  author  of 
the  Lectures  on  Apostolical  Succession.  The  more  elaborate  and 
important  of  the  two  is  constructed  on  the  same  general  method 
with  its  predecessor,  but  with  the  advantage  of  appearing  in  a 
more  digested,  systematic  form.  In  either  case,  the  circumstance 
which  first  strikes  the  reader  is  the  number  and  variety  of  authors 
quoted.  None  but  a  well  stocked  and  selected  library  could  fur- 
nish the  material  of  such  a  volume.  It  is  in  tiiis  richness  of  ma- 
terial that  the  value  of  the  work  chiefly  consists. 

If,  in  addition  to  the  summary  view  which  we  have  given  of 
the  author's  plan,  and  the  more  general  remarks  preceding  it,  we 
thought  it  necessary  to  characterize  tliis  treatise  as  a  whole,  we 
should  call  attention,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  comprehensiveness 
of  its  design.  We  are  not  aware  of  any  interesting  or  important 
question,  involved  in  the  controversy,  which  is  left  untouched. 
The  extent  and  variety  of  the  author's  reading,  upon  this  and 
kindred  subjects,  have  made  him  acquainted  with  the  various  as- 
pects under  which  the  whole  dispute  has  been  presented,  and  with 
the  precise  points  which  are  now  at  issue.  If  he  has  not  always 
made  them  as  distinctly  visible  to  the  reader  as  they  must  be  to 
himself,  it  has  arisen  from  the  difficulty,  which  we  have  already 

fiointed  out,  of  executing  with  uniform  success  a  somewhat  pecu- 
iar  and  complicated  plan.  We  are  free  to  say,  however,  that  no 
one  can  attentively  peruse  this  volume  without  having  fully,  and 


CRITICAL  NOTICES.  3 

for  tlic  most  part  clearly,  brought  before  his  mind  the  various 
llieories  of  church  government,  and  the  grounds  on  whicli  they 
are  supported,  often  in  the  very  words  of  their  respective  advo- 
cates. This  latter  circumstance,  while  it  detracts,  as  we  have 
seen,  from  the  unity  and  absolute  consistency  of  the  author's  own 
argument,  adds  much  to  the  historical  and  literary  interest  of  his 
performance.  Its  merit,  in  this  respect,  is  greater  than  any  but 
an  attentive  reader  would  imagine.  We  are  constantly  surprised 
at  the  industry  with  which  all  accessible  authorities  have  been 
resorted  to,  and  so  cited  as  to  furnish  the  means  of  more  particular 
examination  on  the  reader's  part.  In  this  the  author  has  done 
wisely,  not  so  much  for  mere  immediate  success  as  for  permanent 
utility  and  reputation.  This  volume,  like  its  predecessor,  will  be 
apt  to  alarm  American  readers  bj'  its  bulk  and  show  of  erudition 
Those  who  have  been  nourished  on  the  modern  diet  of  newspa- 
pers and  cheap  literature  have  little  taste  or  stomach  for  more  solid 
aliment.  But  even  some  who  are  at  first  repelled  by  the  magni- 
tude and  copious  contents  of  the  volume,  may  hereafter  resort  to 
it  as  a  guide  to  the  original  sources  of  information,  and  thus  be  led 
to  read  the  wliole.  In  this  connexion,  we  must  not  omit  to  men- 
tion a  valuable  catalogue  or  index  of  the  most  important  works 
upon  the  subject,  which  the  author  has  prepared,  and  appended  to 
tlie  volume.  Most  of  these  works  are  in  his  own  possession,  and 
have  been  employed  in  the  construction  of  this  treatise. 

Another  creditable  feature  of  the  work,  considered  as  an  original 
argument,  is  its  freedom  from  extremes,  and  an  enlarged  view  of 
the  subject  of  church  government,  which  could  never  liave  resulted 
from  mere  solitary  speculation,  but  which  has  obviously  flowed, 
in  this  case,  from  an  extensive  comparison  of  opinions  witii  the 
grounds  on  which  they  rest.  By  such  a  process  one  becomes 
aware  that  wluit  might  otherwise  have  appeared  to  be  a  happy 
discovery  is  notliing  more  than  an  exploded  error,  and  that  nuicli 
is  to  be  said,  and  has  been  said,  in  favor  of  opinions,  which  dog- 
matical ignorance  would  at  once  set  down  as  obsolete  absurdities. 
We  think  it  the  more  necessary  to  make  this  general  commenda- 
tory statement,  because  we  differ  from  the  author  as  to  some  points, 
both  of  his  reasoning  and  interpretation,  only  one  or  two  of  which 
could  be  even  hinted  at  on  this  occasion. 

These  are  particulars  in  which  our  native  publications  are  too 
commonly  defective,  and  which  we  hope  will  contribute  to  the 
circulation  of  the  one  before  us,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home.  On 
the  whole,  we  look  upoti  the  volume  as  another  pleasing  and  credit- 
able proof  of  what  may  bo  accomplished  by  untiring  industry,  not 
only  in  retirement  or  in  academical  stations,  but  amidst  the  labors 
of  an  important  pastoral  charge.  Tliat  such  a  situation  is  no  ex- 
cuse for  idleness,  is  clear  from  such  examples  as  those  of  Mr. 
Smvth  and  Mr.  Barnes. 


4  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

From  the  American  Biblical  Repository. 

Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,  Sec. — Mr.  Smyth  is  already 
well  known  and  duly  appreciatod  as  the  author  of  several  volumes 
on  ecclesiastical  polity,  Apostolical  succession.  Presbytery  and  not 
Prelacy  Scriptural,  Ecclesiastical  Catechism,  &c.  The  present 
volume  is  designed  to  show  that  Presbytery  is  preeminently  repub- 
lican, that  it  is  liberal  and  catholic,  and  admirably  adapted,  in  its 
principles,  both  dogmatical  and  ecclesiastical,  to  our  system  of 
civil  polity. 

We  have  always  wondered  how  those  who  hold  to  episcopacy 
could  contend  for  its  republicanism  and  adaptedness  to  our  system 
of  representative  government.  It  seems  to  us  too  manifest  to  be 
denied,  without  a  blush,  that  the  principles  of  presbytery,  in  its 
extended  sense,  are  precisely  those  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  our 
political  structure,  that  they  arc  essentially  liberal  and  republican, 
and  equalled  by  no  others  in  their  accordance  with  the  free  spirit 
of  our  popular  government. 

The  author  has  done  his  part  well,  and  his  work  merits  the 
commendation  of  all  non-episcopal,  and  the  attention  of  all  epis- 
copal communions.  At  the  present  crisis,  it  is  especially  demand- 
ed, when  so  lofty  claims  are  set  up  by  those  who  deem  themselves 
tiie  only  consor\  atois  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  God's  house. 
6Iay  the  writer  be  rewarded  for  his  work  of  faith  ! 

Presbytery  and  not  Prelacy,  &c. — It  is  not  in  our  power 
now  to  devote  as  much  space  to  a  notice  of  tliis  work  as  its  merits 
certainly  would  justify.  It  is  well  worthy  of  an  extended  review, 
and  we  should  be  pleased  to  have  one  offered  for  our  pages,  as 
we  fear  our  own  pressing  and  multiplied  engagements  will  not 
allow  US  tlir  time  necessary  for  its  preparation. 

Mr  Smyth  has  taken  hold  of  a  great  subject  with  great  zeal, 
and  stands  up  manfully  in  defence  of  non-episcopal  polity.  The 
day  scorns  to  have  come  when  we  must  again  buckle  on  the  armor 
for  a  conflict  with  the  papacy  and  sub-papacy,  or  Newmania  ! 
We  Ml  list  show  the  j)cople  that  we  stand  on  solid  ground,  when 
wo  maintain  the  parity  of  the  ministry,  and  undertake  to  substan- 
tiate our  claims  to  ns  high  and  holy  a  succession,  and  a«  rightful 
and  ro;:ular  an  administration  of  the  ordinances  of  Christ's  house, 
as  ever  belonged  to  Pope  or  Prelate. 

But  to  the  voliinic.  Mr.  Smyth  has  hero  furnished  an  armory, 
where  the  presbyter  can  be  readily  supplied  with  a  panoply,  all- 
Kviflicicnt  for  his  defence  against  the  hottest  onsets  of  his  antago- 
nists, and  indeed  one  in  which  he  can  go  forth  with  confidence 
of  victory. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES.  5 

From  the  Southern  Quarterly  Rcvictv,  for  October,  1843. 

It  was  with  imich  pleasure  tliat  we  noticed,  tlie  otlior  day,  that 
Princeton  CoHcgo,  N.  J.,  had  conferred  on  the  h?arned  and  pious 
author  of  tliis  work,  the  lionorary  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity. 
No  Southern  Divine  is  more  worthy  of  tlie  liigh  distinction,  and 
the  Faculty  of  that  time-honored  institution  have  exhibited  a 
proper  discrimination,  in  tliis  instance,  which  will  meet  with  the 
ajiproval,  not  only  of  the  friends  of  that  gentleiTian,  but  of  the 
whole  body  of  scholars  throughout  the  South.  Dr.  Smyth  has, 
after  many  years  of  laborious  research,  at  length  completed  his 
great  work  on  "  I'resliytcry  and  Prelacy,"  which  is  a  monument 
at  once  of  iiis  learning,  his  industry,  and  his  imjjartiality.  It  is 
an  argument  in  b(!half  of  Christian  libertv,  in  wiiich  he  advocates, 
in  a  style  of  great  force  and  elegance,  and  with  profound  learning, 
"principles  vviiich  are  common  to  Congregationalists,  Presbyte- 
rians, Reformed  Dutch,  Lutherans,  Baptists,  and  Methodists." 

We  have  just  received  these  works,  and,  amidst  a  multiplicity 
of  engagements,  have  not  yet  had  time  to  give  them  more  than  a 
cursory  perusal.  Our  innircssions  are,  uj)on  the  whole,  most 
favorable.  Wc  intend  to  place  them  in  the  hands  of  an  eminent 
Presbyterian  theologian,  for  the  purpose  of  review, — a  respect 
which  is  due  to  their  high  literary  character. 


From  tlie  New-  York  Tribune. 

Presbyteuy  and  not  Prelacy  the  Scriptiirai.  and  Primitive 
Polity.  By  Thomas  Smyth.  New- York  :  Leavitt,  Trow  At 
Co.,  194  Broadway. 

Tills  book  professedly  enters  into  the  controversy  between  dif- 
ferent religious  sects;  and  it  is  obviously  improper  for  us  to  ex- 
j)ress  an  0|)inion  as  to  the  conclusiveness  of  the  argument  which 
the  author  has  made.  But  we  readily  bear  full  testimony  to  the 
learning,  tiic  ability,  industry,  and  enthusiasm  which  the  author 
Jias  brought  into  tlie  very  important  discussion  with  which  the 
book  is  occupied.  He  professes  to  place  himself  upon  ground  held 
in  common  by  all  denominations  of  Christians  except  Prelatists 
and  Papists,  and  comes  f(jrward  as  a  representative  of  them  all, 
against  Episcopacy  in  any  form.  lie  regards  the  present  day  as  a 
most  important  crisis  in  this  great  discussion.  The  efibrts  of  the 
Roman  and  Kjiiscopal  Churches  to  establish  their  exclusive  right 
to  be  considered  the  true  and  primitive  Church,  which  are  perhaps 
more  rijiorous  and  gtmeral  than  they  have  been  heretofore,  render 
necessary,  in  his  cjpiuion,  more  labored  fundamental  arguments  in 
defence  of  non-episcopal  tenets.  He  has  accordingly  sought  to 
furnish  in  this  work  an  armory  whence  proofs  and  authorities  may 


. 


6  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 


be  drawn  in  tlie  controversy.  In  tlie  first  book  he  aims  to  »nov 
from  tlie  Holy  Scriptures  that  Presbytery  is  the  Apostolical  orde 
of  the  Church  of  Lhrist;  he  does  this  by  referring  to  the  conditio! 
of  the  Church  at  the  time  of  and  immediately  after  the  Saviour 
ministry,  by  appealing  to  the  Apostolic  age  of  the  Church,  and  b} 
sliowing  that  presbyteries  are  clothed  by  Apostolic  authority  witl 
the  functions  of  the  ministry  and  by  divine  right  with  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  aud  the  power  of  ordination.  In  the  second  book  lie 
attempts  to  show  the  same  points  by  an  appeal  to  the  Fathers; 
and  tile  liiird  book  treats  of  the  antiquity  of  Presbytery,  with  an 
exJiibitioii  of  the  presbyterianisni  of  the  ancient  Culdees  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  and  also  of  St.  Patrick.  From  this  statement  the 
theological  reader  will  readily  infer  the  extent  and  nature  of  the 
argument,  which  is  conducted  by  the  author  with  signal  ability 
and  learning.  The  work  cannot  fail  to  be  highly  useful,  and  must 
be  greatly  prized  by  those  who  feel  a  decided  interest  in  these 
discussions.  JMr.  Smyth  is  a  well-known  divine  of  South  Caroli- 
na, and  is  the  author  of  several  other  religious  works  of  merit  and 
popularity.  The  present  work  is  published  in  a  very  neat  form, 
on  clear  type,  in  an  octavo  volume  of  nearly  600  pages. 

Ecclesiastical  Republicanism.     By  Thomas  Smyth.     New- 
York  :  Leavitt,  Trow  &  Co.,  194  Broadway. 

The  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  disprove  the  determined  claim, 
which  the  Prelatie  and  Romish  Churches  are  said  to  prefer,  to  a 
greater  conformity  in  spirit  and  in  order  to  our  republican  institu- 
tions than  any  other  denominations.  The  author  is  well  known 
to  the  religious  public  as  the  author  of  several  works  upon  subjects 
nearly  allied  to  this;  and  his  present  work  is  the  result  of  certain 
studies  into  which  he  was  compelled  quite  largely  to  enter  in  the 
progress  of  preparing  those  already  issued.  The  subject  is  evi- 
dently one  of  great  and  growing  importance;  and  those  who  take 
an  interest  in  it  will  find  it  here  discussed  with  great  learning  and 
ability.  The  argument  is  condensed,  and  yet  comprehensive; 
and  we  commend  the  work  to  the  attention  of  those  for  whom  it 
was  specially  written. 


Frovi  the  J^eto-  York  Evangelist. 

We  expected  to  find  the  evidences  of  learning,  research,  can- 
dor, and  signal  ability  in  this  volume,  and  have  not  been  disap- 
pointed. The  author  is  a  clear  and  cogent  reasoner,  an  honest 
|i>vi'r  of  the  truth,  and  possesses  a  kind  Christian  spirit,  and  rare 
qualifications  for  the  work  to  which  he  has  addressed  himself. 
The  claims  of  Prelacy  arc  e.xamine-d  in  all  their  aspects,  and  aie 


CRITICAL  NOTICES.  7 

frankly  met  and  fairly  disposed  of  We  hardly  know  how  any 
question,  not  within  the  reach  of  a  matlieniatical  demonstration, 
could  be  more  efiectually  settled.  We  cannot  coincide  with  all 
the  views  taken,  but  the  main  citadel  lie  has  so  completely  carried, 
that  we  cannot  withhold  our  voice  from  the  chorus  of  victory. 

Ecclesiastical  Republicanism;  or,  the  Republicanism,  Liber- 
ality, and  Catholicity  (jf  Presbytery,  in  contrast  with  Prelacy 
and  Popery.     By  Rev.  Thomas  Smyth.     12mo. 

The  author's  design  has  been  to  show  the  despotic  tendencies 
of  Popery  and  Prelacy,  by  contrasting  with  them  the  free,  liberal, 
and  catholic  influence  of  non-Episcopal  forms  of  church  govern- 
ment. The  term  "Presbytery"  he  applies  in  a  generic  sense,  to 
all  denominations  who  reject  prclatical  bishops.  He  maintains 
its  republican  tendency  in  its  ecclesiastical  and  doctrinal  charac- 
ter, and  presents  an  array  of  facts  and  arguments  which  show  the 
danger  of  the  sects  he  opposes.  The  work  is  written  in  a  free  and 
animated  style,  well  adapted  for  popular  efl'ect.  It  is  very  timely, 
and  should  find  many  readers. 


From  the  JVew-  York  Observer. 

Ecclesiastical  Republicanism  ;  or  the  Republicanism,  Liberal- 
ity, and  Catholicity  of  Presbytery,  in  contrast  with  Prelacy  and 
Popery.  By  Thomas  Smyth,  Author  of  Lectures  on  the  Apos- 
tolical Succession,  «&c. 

An  eloquent  and  able  treatise  on  a  delicate  subject,  and  unless 
we  mistake  the  temper  of  the  times,  the  book  will  attract  some 
attention  and  provoke  discussion.  Particularly  will  it  be  an  ofTen- 
sive  doctrine  to  many  that  Presbyterianism  is  more  congenial  to 
our  free  institutions  than  other  forms  of  church  government;  but 
this  point  our  author  defends  valiantly  by  history  and  argument. 

Mr.  Smyth  is  one  of  the  most  voluminous  writers  of  the  day. 
But  his  books  are  not  merely  ■volumes.  They  are  the  result  of 
deep  study  and  minute  investigation,  and  as  such  are  worthy  of 

being  read  by  intelligent  men. 

»         «         ■»■*         «  «         »         *         «         «         «' 

"Presbytery   and   not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive 

Polity,"  &c. 

The  author  of  this  handsome  octavo  of  550  pages,  is  Rev. 
Thomas  Smyth,  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  whose  former  works  have 
introduced  him  to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  public  as  an  expert 
controversialist,  a  diligent  student,  and  a  man  of  extensive  research 
and  considerabio  vigor  of  mind.  In  the  book  before  us  he  has 
witli  labor,  which  we  do  not  envy  him,  collected  a  vast  array  of 


3  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

testimony  from  Scripture,  tlic  fiitiiers,  the  schoolmen,  the  rpforr.i- 
ers,  and  tlie  Eiiglisli  and  Oriental  churches,  to  show  the  antiquity 
of  Presbytery,  and  to  establish  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  his 
work,  that  Presbytery  is  the  Apostolic  and  Scriptural  form  of 
church  government. 

At  this  time  very  many  clergymen  and  laymen  are  turning  their 
attention  anew  and  with  zeal  to  the  investigation  of  this  subject; 
and  to  all  such,  whether  Episcopalians  or  Presbyterians,  we  com- 
mend this  volume,  as  a  valuable  digest  of  the  evidence  in  favor  of 
the  Presbyterial  side  of  the  question.  Clergymen  who  are  writing 
on  the  subject  will  here  find  reference  to  numerous  authors,  and 
will  be  spared  the  labor  of  much  investigation  by  consulting  Mr. 
Smyth's  armory.  It  may  be  found  at  the  principal  bookstores  in 
the  chief  cities  of  the  United  States. 


From  the  Christian  Observer. 

This  handsome  volume  is  an  octavo  in  size,  containing  about 
570  pages,  printed  on  fine  paper  and  in  excellent  style.  It  is 
divided  into  three  books,  which  are  also  subdivided  into  chapters. 

Such,  briefly,  is  the  ground  occupied  by  this  volume.  We  have 
no  personal  acquaintance  with  the  writer — but  we  regard  his  work 
as  important  and  valuable,  and  well  adapted  to  promote  the  inte- 
rests of  truth.  The  great  subject,  which  he  has  ably  discussed,  is 
assuming  new  importance  in  the  estimation  of  the  public.  The 
claims  of  Prelacy,  and  the  ominous  movements  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  are  calling  attention  to  it.  Many  minds  are  awake  to 
the  tendencies  of  Prelacy,  watching  its  developments  as  affecting 
the  purity  of  Christian  doctrine,  the  spirituality  of  the  Church,  and 
the  rights  of  Christian  men.  Many  are  seeking  information  and 
truth  on  this  subject.  To  such,  this  work  will  be  truly  accepta- 
ble. Its  numerous  extracts  from  the  works  of  distinguished 
writers  of  every  period  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  will  render 
it  highly  valuable  to  ministers,  to  students,  and  to  the  class  of 
general  i-eaders  to  which  we  have  just  referred. 

Of  the  work  on  Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,  this  paper  says  : — 

The  character  of  this  work  is  indicated  by  its  title.  The  sub- 
jects ably  discussed  in  it  are  important  and  worthy  of  the  attention 
of  American  citizens,  «fec. 


From,  the  j\i:io  England  Puritan. 

We  have  read  this  book  with  much  satisfaction.     It  is  the  frui^ 
of  extensive  research.     The  author  has  had  access  to  abundant 


CRITICAL  NOTICES.  9 

materials,  unci  has  well  improved  liis  advantage.  He  is  a  san- 
guine ex  animo  and  jure  divino  Presbyterian  ;  and  his  predilec- 
tions have  led  him  into  some  errors.  He  finds  Presbyterianism 
where  we  find  Congregationalism.  Indeed,  we  can  hardly  quar- 
rel with  him  for  this;  since  his  definition  of  Presbyterianism  is 
Fo  broad,  as  to  embrace  such  men  as  Dr.  Owen.  Let  us  have 
Presbyterianism  after  Dr.  Owen's  stamp,  and  we  concede  that  the 
Scriptures  and  ti)e  Primitive  Church  favor  it. 

With  the  exception  above  named,  the  argument  of  the  book  is 

fowerful  and  conclusive.     It  is  not  only  a  valuable  offering  to  the 
resbyterian  Church,  but  it  will  be  read  with  profit  by  all  denomi- 
nations;  and  we  hope  it  will  have  an  extensive  circulation. 


From  the  Christian  Watchman. 

The  plan  and  design  of  the  author  are  briefly  indicated  by  the 
title-page.  He  has  dedicated  his  work  to  the  Presbyterian,  Con- 
gregational, Reformed  Dutch,  German  Lutheran,  Methodist,  and 
Baptist  denominations,  and  declares  in  his  preface  that  the  aim  of 
the  work  is  catholic  and  not  sectarian. 

The  subject  embraced  in  this  treatise,  describes  the  great  battle- 
field on  wliicii  are  to  meet  tiie  friends  and  the  opposers  of  evan- 
gelical piety  All  mankind  must  have  a  religion.  Enlightened 
nations  cannot  tolerate  idolatry,  it  is  too  absurd.  It  matters  little 
what  the  form  is,  if  it  have  not  the  elements  of  evangelical  piet3\ 
Tlie  gospel  phin  is  simple.  It  is  sustained  and  carried  forward 
by  tiie  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  you  set  aside  tliis  plan,  you 
must  have  pomp  and  ceremony,  and  the  natural  tendency  is  to  a 
priesthood. 

The  work  of  Mr.  Smytii  is  elaborate.  He  seems  to  have  sur- 
veyed the  whole  ground,  and  lias  been  at  great  expense  in  col- 
lecting and  digesting  whatever  has  been  written  upon  the  subject. 
Witli  the  peculiar  views  of  the  author  on  the  subject  of  Presby- 
terianism us  opposed  to  Congregationalism,  we  liave  fio  sympathy, 
but  in  the  main  question  we  concur  with  him. 

Tlie  work  is  divided  into  tiiree  books,  «fec. 


From,  the  Presbijlcrian  (Pittsburgh)  Advocate. 

We  have  also  received  by  the  kindness  of  the  author.  Rev. 
Thomas  Smyth,  of  Cliarleston,  S.  C  ,  his  recent  elaborate  work, 
entitled — "  Presbytery  and  not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primi- 
tive Polity"  of  the  Christian  Church.  This  book  consists  of 
twenty-four  chapters,  and  is  a  learned  and  elaborite  discussion  of 


10  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

the  important  topics  broiiglit  under  review  in  the  controversy  cm 
Church  Government  with  Papists  and  Prelatists.  The  design  oil 
the  writer,  as  he  informs  us,  was  to  condense  tlie  substance  of  thel 
innumerable  treatises  which  have  been  written  on  the  subject,  andj 
to  arrange  their  various  topics  in  a  more  complete  and  compre- 
hensive order,  so  as  to  present  them  in  as  perfect,  clear,  and  satis-l 
factory  a  manner  as  the  limits  of  a  single  volume  would  permit. 
That  Mr.  Smyth  has  succeeded  in  his  design,  is  testified  tiy  many  I 
competent  witnesses,  such  as  the  Biblical  Repertory,  and  others 
of  the  same  high  standing.  After  years  of  laborious  research  and 
comparison  of  the  views  of  a  large  number  of  the  ablest  writers 
upon  the  subject,  he  has  given  us  the  result  in  this  handsome 
octavo  of  560  pages.  It  is  very  neatly  got  up,  and  printed  upon 
fine  paper;  and  in  connection  witli  an  equally  elaborate  and 
applauded  work,  on  the  Apostolical  Succession,  and  a  third  on 
Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,  all  issued  within  a  few  years,  forms 
a  very  creditable  testimony  to  the  genius  and  industry  of  the 
author.     These  works  may  be  had  at  Carter's,  Market-street. 

By  a  private  note  from  the  same  author,  we  are  gratified  to  learn 
that  the  third  edition  of  his  "Ecclesiastical  Catechism,"  will  be 
immediately  issued  from  the  press.  This  manual  of  instruction, 
designed  to  explain  in  familiar  question  and  answer,  the  Presby- 
terian form  of  Church  Government,  has  also  received  high  com- 
mendation from  various  most  respectable  sources. 


From  the  JVorth  American. 

Prksbvtkry  and  not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive 
Polity,  proved  from  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  the  Fathers,  the 
Schoolmen,  the  Reformers,  and  the  English  and  Oriental 
Churches.  Also,  the  Antiquity  of  Presbytery,  including  an 
account  of  the  ancient  Culdees  and  of  St.  Patrick.  By  Thomas 
Smytli,  author  of  Lectures  on  the  Apostolic  Succession,  &.c. 

This  is  an  octavo  volume,  beautifully  printed,  and  containing 
600  pages.  It  is  for  sale  by  W.  S.  Martien,  S.  E.  corner  of  Seventh 
and  George  streets.  As  the  work  of  a  most  able  and  learned 
writer,  it  will  doubtless  be  extensively  read  among  all  classes  of 
Protestants  wiiose  faith  and  discipline  are  adverse  to  Episcopal 
government.     More  than  this  it  is  not  the  part  of  our  press  to  say. 


From  the  JV.  Y.  Journal  of  Cmmerce. 

Smyth  on  Presbytery  and  Prelacy. — The  title-page  of  this 
elaborate  work  indicates  the  object  and  design  of  the  author.  It 
is  as  follows  : — 


ClUTICAL  NOTIi;ES.  11 

Trcsl)}  ttry  arid  uol  rrelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Polity, 
])roved  from  the  testimonies  of  Scripture,  the  Fathers,  the 
Schoolmen,  the  Reformers,  and  the  English  and  Oriental 
Cluirches.  Also,  the  Antiquity  of  Presbytery,  including  an 
account  of  the  Ancient  Culdees,  and  of  St.  Patrick.  By  Thomas 
Smyth,  author  of  Lectures  on  the  Apostolical  Succession,  &c. 

'I'he  author  declares  the  aim  of  tiie  work  to  be  catholic,  and  not 
cectarian.  He  has  dedicated  it  to  tlie  I'resbyterian,  Congrega- 
tional, Reformed  Dutcli,  (jJernian  Lutheran,  Methodist,  and  Bap- 
tist denominations,  whose  common  principles  of  ecclesiastical 
order,  in  contrast  with  those  of  Prelacy  and  Popery,  it  is  mainly 
designed  to  advocate. 

Here,  in  the  compass  of  an  octavo  volume  of  540  pages,  Mr. 
Smyth  has  condensed  the  substance  of  all  that  is  valuable  in  th« 
innumerable  treatises  tliat  have  been  published  on  this  great  con- 
troversy. In  the  collection  of  tiiese  works  in  London  and  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe;,  great  exj)ense  was  incurred  ;  and  in  perusing, 
colltuing,  and  digesting  them,  tlio  labor  of  years  has  been  applied. 
The  lucid  arrangement  adopted  by  the  author  tends  much  to  en- 
hance the  interest  of  the  various  topics  so  ably  and  satisfactorily 
discussed.  The  work  is  divided  into  three  Books,  each  of  wliich 
is  sul)divided  into  several  chapters.  Book  I.  is  designed  to  show 
that  Presbytery,  (imder  which  term  the  author  includes  those 
generic  prineij)les  common  to  all  the  non-Episcopal  Christian 
denominations,)  is  the  Scriptural  and  Apostolic  order  of  the  Church 
of  Cl)rist.  In  Book  II.  the  claims  of  Presbytery  to  the  true  Apos- 
tolic or  ministerial  succession  are  sustained  by  an  appeal  to  the 
Fathers,  the  Schoolmen,  tiie  Reformers,  and  to  the  Romish,  Angli- 
can, and  other  Churches.  Book  III.  treats  of  the  antiquity  of 
Presbytery  ;  and  describes  the  Presbyterianism  of  the  ancient  Cul- 
dees of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  also  of  St.  Patrick. 

SiMYTH  ON  EccM'siASTicAi,  Rfpl'blic ANisM. — The  necessity 
of  compressing  the  j)reccding  work  within  the  briefest  compass, 
compelled  the  author  to  leave  out  certain  chapters  originally  de- 
signed to  be  embodied  in  it.  Part  of  these  related  to  the  republi- 
canism, liberality,  and  catholicity  of  Presbytery,  in  contrast  with 
Prelacy  and  Popery.  These  have  been  published  in  a  duodecimo 
volume  of  300  pages  and  upwards,  bearing  the  title  prefixed  to 
tills  paragraph.  The  author  successfully  exposes  the  futility  of 
the  arguments  commonly  advanced  in  favor  of  the  claim  preferred 
by  the  Prelalic  and  Romi.>h  Churches,  to  an  exclusive  catholicity, 
iiiid  to  a  greater  liberality  than  other  denominations.  In  contrast- 
ing the  dill'crent  ecclesiastical  systems,  he  shows  triumphunlly  the 
superior  adaptation  of  Presbytery  to  the  system  of  cur  republican 


12  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

government — its  greater  conformity,  in  spirit  and  in  order,  to  our 
institutions. 


From  the  Presbyterian. 

Not  long  since  we  had  tlie  pleasure  of  commending  to  the  notice 
of  our  readers  an  octavo  volume  on  the  Apostolical  Succession, 
from  the  author  whose  fertile  pen  has  now  produced  the  two 
above  named  works.  As  our  readers  may  perceive,  these  volumes 
hear  upon  the  same  great  subject,  and  are  tlie  results  of  much 
study,  and  very  extensive  reading.  *  *  *  *  As  in  his  "  Apostoli- 
cal Succession,"  so  in  these  volumes,  ^tlr.  Smyth  has  investigated 
his  subject  thoroughly,  and  constructed  a  full  and  conclusive  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  Pri^sbyterianism.  In  the  former  work,  the  claims 
of  Presbytery  as  tbe  trui;  Apo'.toliral  order  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
arc  sustained  in  an  argument  of  much  force  and  great  variety. 

The  second  work,  on  "  Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,"  is  one 
peculiarly  suited  to  the  times.  The  author  very  successfully 
pro-vc.^  that  Presijytery  is  republican  in  its  <loctrinal  and  ecclesi- 
astical systems.  He  investigates  its  structure,  and  from  every 
part  of  it  deduces  this  character  of  it,  and  not  only  so,  but  proves 
that  in  comparison  with  other  forms  of  Church  polity,  it  is  pre- 
eminently so.  It  indeed  constitutes  the  best  defence  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  against  tVie  current  slanders  of  the  day,  with  which  we 
have  met,  and  while  we  hope  the  former  work  will  find  an  lion 
orable  place  in  the  library  at  least  of  every  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, this  we  should  hope  will  be  found  in  every  Presbyterian 
family  as  well  adapted  to  popular  reading.  Hoping  that  these 
books  will  be  reviewed  in  our  Monthlies  and  Quarterlies,  we  con- 
clude our  short  notice  of  them  with  thanks  to  the  author  for  his 
indefatigable  labor  in  these  particular  departments,  to  which  the 
controversies  of  the  day  have  given  unusual  j>rominence.  Prelacy 
with  its  arrogant  pretensions  will  and  must  be  defeated  by  the  ro 
sistance  which  it  is  now  arousinj;- 


From  the  Charleston  Courier. 

Two  very  able  polemic  works,  the  one  entitled  "  Presbytery 
and  not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Priuiitive  Polity,"  and  the 
other,  "  Ecclesiastical  Republicanism,"  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Smyth,  have  been  received  and  are  for  sale  at  the  dif- 
ferent bookstores  in  this  fity.  The  author  in  the  composition 
of  these  works  has  shown  himself  an  able  controversialist,  reason- 
ing with  clearness  and  cogency,  and  exhibiting  great  learning  and 


CKITICAL  NO  no  ho.  13 

research.  These  volumes  certainly  place  liiin  high  as  a  writer, 
and  entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  foremost  as  a  champion  of  his 
Church.  Our  neutrality  on  matters  of  religious  controversy  pre- 
cludes us  from  an  examination  of  the  subjects  discussed;  and  we 
therefore  simply  refer  our  readers  to  the  following  notices  of  these 
works,  in  other  papers,  to  show  the  estimation  in  which  they  are 
held. 


From  a  Writer  m  the  Charleston  Courier. 

•  The  Rev.  Mr.  Smyth's  promised  Treatise  on  Presbytery  and 
Pi'elacy,  has  at  last  appeared,  and  will  be  found  to  sustain,  in 
every  way,  his  high  reputation  as  a  polemic  and  a  controversial 
writer.  In  fact,  he  has  proved  himself  absolute  master  of  his 
subject,  and  fully  competent  to  its  discussion  throughout  the  mi- 
nutest details. 

In  the  present  work  he  assumes,  however,  a  new  position,  and 
deserting  his  former  posture  of  defence,  assails  his  opponents  with 
singular  vigor  and  dexteritj'.  There  are,  of  course,  two  sides  to 
every  question  ;  but  he  has  fortified  his  views  witJi  such  abun- 
dance of  quotation  from  authority,  such  fertility  of  illustration,  and 
such  ingenuity  of  reasonini;,  that  wc  shall  wait  with  some  impa- 
tience of  curiosity  to  see  what  grounds  of  reply  have  been  left  to 
his  antagonists. 

Whatever  else  may  result  from  these  disputes,  one  thing  is  cer- 
tain ;  that  no  theological  library  can  be  considered  as  properly 
furnished,  in  regard  to  this  topic,  which  shall  not  contain  these 
well-written  and  highly  interesting  volumes. 


From  the  Rambler,  by  John  B.  Irving,  M.  D.  (Charleston,  S.  C.) 

Smyth's  works  on  Presbytery  and  Prelacy  and  Ecclesiastical 
Republicanism,  from  the  press  of  Crocker  &  Brewster,  Boston, 
are  before  us. 

The  rule  we  have  laid  down  for  ourself  in  the  conduct  of  the 
Rambler,  forbids  our  entering  into  the  discussion  of  any  subject 
connected  cither  with  politics  or  religion  ;  but  we  are  bound  in 
justice  to  Southern  Literature,  to  notice  in  the  most  favorable 
manner  the  works  before  us,  evidencing  as  tliey  do  the  research 
and  fine  literary  attainments  of  the  author.  These  publications, 
like  many  others,  should  be  attentively  read  by  all  seeking  the 
truth — "cither  to  make  or  break  a  faith."  For  our  own  part  we 
arc  free  to  confess  that  ice  have  no  prejudices,  and  cheerfully  read 
any  work  put  into  our  hands  on  doctrinal  points,  happy  to  be  set 
right  whenever  it  is  salisf  ictorily  proved  to  ua,  that  we  have  been 

'b 


14  CniTICAL  NOTICES. 

in  error.     Of  all  prejudices  on  oartli,  the  most  fatal  to  the  spread 
of  triitli,  to  peace  and  good  will  among  men,  is  religious  prejudice  ! 


From  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

This  elaborate  Treatise,  from  the  pen  of  our  accomplished  fel- 
low-townsman, the  Rev.  Mr,  Smyth,  is  dedicated  to  the  Presby- 
terian, Congregational,  Reformed  Dutch,  German  Lutheran,  Me- 
thodist, and  Baptist  denominations,  whose  common  principles  of 
ecclesiastical  order,  in  contrast  with  those  of  Prelacy  and  Papacy, 
it  is  mainly  designed  to  advocate.  The  work  is  divided  into  three 
Books  :  the  first,  showing  that  Presbytery  is  the  Scriptural  and 
Apostolical  order  of  the  Church  of  Christ:  the  second,  exhibiting 
the  claims  of  Presbytery  to  the  true  Apostolical  or  Ministerial 
Succession,  by  an  appeal  to  the  Fathers,  the  Schoolmen,  the  Re- 
formers, and  to  the  Romish,  Anglican,  and  other  Churches:  the 
third,  presenting  the  antiquity  of  Presbytery,  with  a  detailed  his- 
toric account  of  the  ancient  Culdees  of  Ireland  and  Scotland. 
The  whole  forms  a  contribution  to  sacred  letters,  for  which  the 
country  in  general,  the  South  in  particular,  is  laid  under  special 
obligations  to  the  author.  The  subject  discussed,  important  at 
any  time,  is  vitally  so  at  the  present  day.  Upon  it  hinges  a  ten 
years'  controversy,  in  whicli  an  unprecedented  amount  of  learn- 
ing and  vigor  has  been  expended,  and  around  which,  all  that  is 
vital  in  Christianity,  and  hopeful  for  the  redeemed  race  of  man- 
kind, is  gathered. 

Although  we  may  not  go  the  whole  way  with  the  author,  in 
the  minuter  details  of  his  subject,  we  agree  with  him  in  the  lead- 
ing principles  he  advocates,  and  thank  him  for  the  noble  vindica- 
tion which  this  publication,  in  connection  with  his  work  on  Apos. 
tolical  Succession,  asserts  against  the  growing  intolerance  of  the 
times. 

The  work  is  beautifully  printed,  and  for  sale  at  the  Methodist 
Southern  Book-room,  240  King-street. 

Ecclesiastical  Republicanism. — A  Treatise  under  this  title 
has  recently  been  given  to  the  world  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smyth,  of 
this  city,  who  is  advantageously  known  to  the  Christian  public  as 
the  autlior  of  several  valuable  works  on  subjects  of  vital  impor- 
tance at  the  present  time  to  Protestant  Christendom.  We  have 
carefully  read  this  publication,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  in 
our  opinion,  it  is  one  of  the  author's  best  productions,  both  as  to 
force  of  reasoning  and  finish  of  style. 

It  is  but  due  to  Dr.  Smyth  to  add,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  doing 
so,  that  we  except  his  publications  entirely  from  the  foregoing  cen 


CRITICAL  NOTICES.  15 

sure.  His  notice  of  the  Methodist  E.  Church  in  liis  work  on  Ec- 
clesiastical Republicanism,  is  frank  and  kind  ;  and  although  he 
has  not  presented  the  peculiarities  of  its  organization  in  tiie  point 
of  ligiit  which  we  think  sheer  justice  demands,  yet  he  has  not 
descended  from  the  port  of  tlie  catiioiic  Cliristian,  the  accomplished 
scholar,  the  finished  gentleman,  to  misrepresent  and  injure. 


From  the  Charleston  Observer. 

It  is  about  two  years  since  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smyth,  of  this  city, 
issued  a  large  volume,  entitled  "  The  Prelatical  Doctrine  of  the 
Apostolical  Succession  examined,  and  the  Protestant  Ministry 
defended  against  the  assumptions  of  Popery  and  High  Church- 
ism" — and  this  is  now  followed  by  an  8vo  volume  of  nearly  600 
pages.  The  larger  part  of  the  work  is  devoted  to  the  proof  that 
Presbytery  is  the  Scriptural  and  Apostolical  order  of  the  Church. 
Then  the  claims  of  Presbytery  to  the  true  Apostolic  Succession 
are  sustained  by  an  appeal  to  the  Fathers,  the  Schoolmen,  the 
Reformers,  and  to  the  Romish,  Anglican,  and  other  Churches — 
and  the  work  concludes  with  proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  Presby- 
tery ;  with  an  exhibition  of  the  Presbyterianism  of  the  ancient 
Culdees  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  also  of  St.  Patrick.  In  de- 
fining his  position,  Mr.  Smyth  maintains  that  Presbyters  are  the 
only  Bisliops  recognized  in  the  word  of  God — that  they  are  em- 
powered to  discharge  all  the  offices  and  functions  of  the  Christian 
ministry — that  they  succeed  to  all  that  authority,  and  to  all  those 
duties  which  have  been  devolved,  by  the  Apostles,  upon  their 
successors  in  the  ordinary  and  permanent  ministry  of  the  Gospel, 
and  that  there  is  no  other  order  of  Ministers  distinct  from  and 
superior  to  them,  to  whom  is  given  the  exclusive  possession  of  all 
ecclesiastical  authority.  He  then  openly  denies  the  truth  of  the 
position,  as  maintained  by  Prelatists — that  there  are  three  original 
and  distinct  orders  in  the  ministry — Bishops,  Presbyters,  and  Dea- 
cons— each  instituted  by  Divine  right  through  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  each  of  them  essential  to  the  valid  constitu- 
tion of  a  Church  of  Christ.  His  work  is,  therefore,  both  didactic 
and  polemic.  He  shows  both  what  is,  and  what  is  not,  the  Primi- 
tive, Scriptural,  and  Apostolical  order  of  the  Church.  Besides 
frequent  brief  appeals  to  the  Scriptures,  he  has  brought  about  fifty 
passages  in  particular  illustration  of  the  positions  which  he  has 
assumed ;  and  his  references  are  numerous  to  the  most  eminent 
writers  on  the  subject,  both  ancient  and  modern.  From  the  rich 
sources  of  information  in  the  possession  of  the  author,  he  could 
jiavu  compiled  a  work  of  great  service  to  the  truth  and  to  the 
Church  ;  but  he  has  done  much  more.  He  has  furnished  as  ori- 
ginal a  production  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  would  admit — 


16  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

admiral)! y  nrrniif^cd — ;md  if  tlirre  be  -nny  fault,  it  is  in  the  supera- 
liiiiulatite  of  llie  proof  hroiiglit  to  sustain  j)ositions  which  cannot 
be  succ(>ssfuliy  coritrovortt'd.  So  that  if  any  should  undertake  to 
answer  it,  they  will  pass  lightly  over  the  main  argument,  and 
seize  upon  some  of  the  appendages  to  which  even  the  author  lias 
attached  very  little  value.  It  is  possible  that  Prelatists  may  pass 
this  work  by,  under  the  assumption  that  their  claims  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  such  appeal.  But  whether  they  notice  it  or  not, 
it  will  commend  itself  to  the  judgment  and  conscience  of  every 
intelligent  and  impartial  reader.  There  is,  moreover,  very  little, 
if  any  tning,  \vhich  may  properly  be  called  sectarian,  in  the  work 
All  but  Prelatists  may  read  and  enjoy  it,  and  we  feel  no  liesitancy 
in  recommending  it,  especially  to  those  who  are  set  for  the  defence 
<jf  the  Gospel.  This,  together  with  the  work  on  the  Apostolic 
Succession,  forms  two  of  the  best  Tracts  for  the  Times  with 
whicli  we  are  acquainted. 


From  the  (N.  Y.)  Baptist  Advocate. 

An  octavo,  of  nearly  600  pages,  handsomely  printed  on  clear 
paper,  and  neatly  bound.  It  is  designed,  not  to  exhibit  and  en- 
force all  the  doctrines  and  views  of  Presbyterianism,  but  merely 
to  prove,  from  Scripture,  history,  and  reason,  that  instead  of  three 
orders  in  the  ministry,  as  Churchmen  claim,  there  was  instituted 
by  the  Apostles,  and  has  continued  througliout  a  great  part  of  the 
Church  till  the  present  day,  but  one  order,  that  of  Presbyters  or 
Elders,  holding  one,  and  a  uniformly  equal  office.  To  sustain  this 
view,  the  author  has  collected  a  mass  of  testimony  and  evidence 
from  ecclesiastical  writers,  which  evinces  a  degree  of  research  not 
often  expended  in  our  day  in  preparing  a  volume  for  the  press. 
The  prelatical  assumjjtions  of  Puseyism  are  wrested  from  them  by 
the  force  of  weapons  taken  from  the  hands  of  illustrious  Church- 
men, and  little  is  left  to  cover  their  mortified  defeat,  but  their  own 
imperturbable  effrontery. 

The  author  does  not  fail  of  argument,  but  the  chief  merit  of  the 
work  consists  in  its  abundant  and  appropriate  extracts,  quotations, 
and  citations  from  authors  not  accessible  to  many  readers.  Care 
is  taken,  we  believe,  in  every  instance,  to  give  in  a  note  the  book 
and  page  referred  to  in  the  body  of  the  work. 


From  the  Southern  Baptist  Advocate. 

That  these  are  able,  learned,  and,  on  the  whole,  candid  works, 
it  needs  not  our  suffrages  to  testify.  Mr.  Smyth,  in  a  commenda- 
ble spirit  of  charity,  would  construe  the  word  Presbytery  as  em- 


CKITUAL  NO'trCE.S.  17 

bracing  tlio  Eldcrsliip  of  all  non-prelatical  Cliurclies.  Let  him 
speak  for  himself  on  this  important  point.  ******  Tliis  first 
work  will  materially  aid  the  young  student  of  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment in  arriving  at  that  understanding,  and  as  such,  we  cor- 
dially recommend  it  to  his  attention.  We  wish  we  could  copy 
the  whole  of  Mr  Smyth's  "  Contents,"  but  this  our  limits  do  not 
permit.  Those  of  the  first  three  chapters  of  Book  I.,  and  those 
of  Book  III.,  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  whole. 


From  the  Southern  Chronicle. 

We  have  received  of  the  Reverend  Author,  "Presbytery  and 
not  Prelacy  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Polity,  proved  from  the 
testimonies  of  Scripture,  the  Fathers,  the  Schoolmen,  the  Reform- 
ers, and  the  English  and  Oriental  Churches."  Also,  "  Ecclesias- 
tical Republicanism  ;  or  the  Republicanism,  Liberality,  and  Catho- 
licity of  Presbytery  in  contrast  with  Prelacy  and  Popery  ;"  both 
by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Smyth,  D.  D.,  of  Charleston. 

The  author  is  already  favorably  known  to  the  religious  public 
through  his  "  Lectures  on  Apostolical  Succession,"  and  other 
works  ;  and  although  we  have  not  had  lime  to  form  any  opinion 
of  the  merits  of  the  works  before  us,  we  have  no  doubt,  from  his 
established  reputation,  and  character  for  piety  and  learning,  they 
will  be  an  acquisition  to  the  theologian  and  patriot. 


From  the  South  Carolinian. 

In  this  work,  as  we  gather  from  its  preface,  etc.,  not  having  had 
leisure  to  read  it,  the  design  of  the  author  has  been  to  condense 
the  substance  of  all  that  is  valuable  from  the  various  treatises 
which  have  been  written  on  this  great  controversy,  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  And,  to  arrange  the  various 
topics  in  a  complete  and  comprehensive  order,  the  work  is  divided 
into  three  Books,  each  of  which  is  subdivided  into  several  chap- 
ters. 

The  Rev.  Author  of  these  works  is  an  able  and  accomplished 
scholar,  whose  writings  are  too  well  known  and  too  highly  appre- 
ciated by  the  Christian  community,  to  require  any  encomium  or 
approbation  from  us;  and  those  before  us  have  elicited  the  high- 
est tc:»tiinonials  of  approval  and  regard  from  many  of  the  abh^st 
religious  papers  and  most  eminent  divines  in  the  country  ;  from 
among  which,  we  select  the  following,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller, 
than  whom  few,  if  any,  can  have  higher  or  more  deserved  influ- 
ence with  those  who  concur  with  him  in  religious  doctrines  : 

"  We  return  our  sincere  thanks  to  the  respected  and  gifted  au- 
thor, for  tiio  volumes  before  us,  whose  high  character  cannot  fail 

b* 


THE 

PRELATICAL   DOCTRINE 

OF 

APOSTOLICAL    SUCCESSION 

EXAMINED, 

AND     THE     PROTESTANT     MINISTRY    DEFENDED     AGAINST    THE 
ASSUMPTIONS     OF     POPERY     AND     HIGH     CUUKCIIISM, 

lu  a  Series  of  Lectures. 

BY    THOMAS    SMYTH, 

Pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Charleston,  S.  C. 


CRITICAL     NOTICES. 


Overture  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  S.  Carolina  and  Geo.  at  its  session  in  1841 

That  the  publicalinii  of  works  ii]teiideil  to  iiiivocale  the  disiiiiciivc  order  and 
polity  of  our  church  slioukl  be  encnurafjed,  and  Ihcir  circuluUou  aniuiig  our 
pi'opic  reiulered  as  general  as  possilile  ;  and  it  liavina:  come  to  tlie  knowleiise  of 
this  t!<ynod,  that  oneoftlieir  nuinbi-r,  tlie  Rev.  Thomas  Sniytli,  of  Cliarleslon, 
lias  recently  given  to  the  Cliurcli,  among  (Jllier  valuable  publications,  '  An  Kcclc- 
sia.slieal  Catechism  of  the  Presliylerian  Church,  for  the  ii.se  of  Families,  Jiilile 
Cla.sses,  and  Private  Members,'^ and  a  series  of  lectures  on  'The  Pridalical 
Doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession  Examined,  and  the  Prole.stant  Ministry 
Dcli-ndcd  against  the  Assumptions  of  Pojjery  and  High-Churchism.'  T!ierc(<>rc, 
ii'f.soZf^f/,  That  the  Synod  of  t>outh  Carolina  and  Georgia  regard  with  pleasure 
ami  upproljation  these  publications,  as  containing  an  able  deleiice  of  the  divine 
aulhorily  of  the  Protestant  Ministry,  and  a  lull  and  satisl'aclory  exposition  of  the 
order  and  government  of  our  Church  ;  and  as  dem.'nnled  by  the  present  state  of 
the  controversy  on  these  subjects.  And  the  Synod  does,  tlieietbre,  cordially 
recommenil  the  said  ))ul)licalions  to  all  our  Ministers,  Elders,  and  private  mem- 
bers, as  works  of  high  value,  and  calcuhiled  to  advance  the  intelligence  of  our 
Church,  on  our  distinctive  peculiarities  and  doctrines. 

Extract  from  a  review  of  the  work  in  the  Biblical  Repertory,  for  Jan'y,  IS-ll. 

'  This  book  docs  no  small  credit  to  the  indn.slry  and  talent  of  the  author.  The 
importance  of  his  subject,  the  correctness  of  his  views,  and  the  abumlaiiee  of 
materials  which  he  seems  to  have  had  at  his  command,  entitle  his  pertiinnaiue  to 
the  most  respectful  notice.  Tlie  author's  mind  is  not  only  strong  but  lively,  and 
his  liook  exhibits  traces  of  both  (lualities.  The  natural,  (and  may  we  not  say,) 
natiomil,  vivacity  with  which  he  seizes  on  his  topics  and  discusses  them, 
enlivens  in  a  very  satisfactory  degree  even  those  parts  of  the  subject  which 
nii'.'ht  otherwise  have  proved  most  irksome  and  fatiguing.  In  n  word,  the  book, 
(which  by  the  way  is  elegantly  printed,)  may  be  I'reely  eommcndeil  to  the  I'avor- 
able  notice  of  the  public;  and  we  doubt  not  that  wherever  it  is  read  it  will  be 
useful,  in  apprising  those  who  read  it  what  the  high  chinch  dtictrine  really  is,  aiid 
on  what  grounds  it  may  be  most  triumphantly  and  easily  refuted  ' 


2  CniTICALNOTICKS. 

From  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

'  We  have  the  pleasure  to  announce  the  prolmble  publication  of  these  Lec- 
tures ai  no  ilistniil  day.  As  far  as  opportunity  has  allowed  it,  we  have  attended 
Mr.  Smyth's  course,  and  been  both  pleased  and  edified.  Pleased,  in  witnessing 
a  fine  combination  of  candor,  kindness,  and  strength,  in  the  discussion  of  difficult 
and  soul-rousin?  questions.  Edified,  in  listening  to  a  vig^orous  discussion  of 
important  first  princi|)les,  where  the  lecturer  was  master  of  his  thesis,  and 
backed  his  reasoning  by  extensive  authority  of  tlie  liigliest  value  in  this  contro- 
versy. This  volume,  in  which  the  Prel.ilic  Doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession 
is  considered,  will  be  highly  valuable  to  the  theological  student.' 

From  the  Christian  Intelligencer,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  N.  Y. 

'  This  is  an  exceedingly  neat  volume  of  five  luinilred  and  sixty-eight  pages, 
1"  niiiifnl  in  its  mechanical  execution,  and  \ipon  a  suliject  of  grave  and  exciting 
iniporiiiiice.  The  work  is  seasonable,  and  from  the  cursory  examination  which 
\ve  have  as  vet  been  able  to  give  to  it,  we  believe  that  it  will  prove  to  be  exceed- 
iuijly  valuable.  'J'he  work  before  us,  at  the  present  crisis,  is  seasonable  and 
necessary.  It  is  more  ample  in  its  discussion  than  any  that  preceded  it.  It  is 
ilie  result  of  much  and  palient  research,  and  will  be  found  to  reflect  credit  alike 
upon  the  taU-nIs  iu\d  learning,  and  we  will  add  also,  the  temper  of  the  author, 
lie  has  rendered  the  Protestant  community  a  debtor.  We  desire  that  the  work 
may  have  the  widest  circulation,  and  receive  the  careful  perusal  bolh  of  Episco- 
jialiaus  and  Christians  of  every  other  name.' 

From  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  N.  Y. 

'  Tins  is  a  large  octavo  vobime.  The  author  makes  thorough  work  of  hia 
subject,  examining  the  pretensions  of  Prelacy  with  care  and  candor,  and  expos- 
ing their  fallacy  with  unanswerable  Ibrce  and  perspicuiity.  He  gives  the  claims 
M'hich  are  set  up  by  Popery  and  High-Churchmen  in  their  own  language,  and 
rcfutrs  tbcm  by  arguments  drawn  from  reason,  church  histor>',  and  Scripture. 
The  Christian  world  seems  to  he  waked  up  anew  to  the  high  and  exclusive 
clarins  of  Prelacy  by  the  astounding  assumptions  of  the  Oxford  divines;  and 
we  admit  ilial  such  a  liook  as  that  before  us  seems  to  be  called  for  by  the  occa- 
sii'U,  and  will  no  doubt  be  read  with  great  interest.' 

From  the  New  York  Evangelist. 

'  A  large  and  elegant  octavo  volume,  on  a  most  important  topic.  Its  object  is 
the  exuminaiion  of  the  claims  of  the  Popish  hierarchy,  and  of  that  portion  of  the 
clercy  and  Inity  of  the  Episcopal  Church  which  pympaihizes  M'ith  them,  to  the 
exclusive  risht  to  liie  funclii^ns  and  privileges  of  the  Christian  ministry  and 
Church  These  claims,  always  unscriptural,  have  of  late  assumed  new  arro- 
gance and  vigor,  by  the  brief  currency  of  the  Oxford  pnblicalions,  and  the 
greatly  quickened  zeal  of  the  Papacy  among  us.  The  time  has  certainly  arrived 
when  their  exclusive  notions  should  be  subjected  to  the  searching  test  of  reason 
and  scripture.  If  there  are  those  among  us  u-ho  will  vauntingly  a.ssume  that  theirs 
i-i  the  oidy,  the  valid  tninisiry,  that  with  them  are  to  be  found  the  only  author- 
ized ordinances  of  salvation,  that  there  is  no  salely  hut  within  the  pale  of  their 
own  denoniinaliou  ;  lei  their  pretensions  be  sil'led.  and  the  emptiness  of  their 
claims  be  exposed  by  the  clear  light  of  truth.  That  such  a  contest  with  the 
j)rinciple  of  Prelacy  is  yet  to  be  waged,  and  that  it  is  to  be  abandimed,  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  We  hail  every  eflort  to  throw  light  upon  the  subject  Mr.  Smyth 
has  entered  vigorously  upon  the  field  of  controversy,  and  has  spared  neither 
pains  or  strength  to  do  it  justice.  He  has  gone  over  the  whole  ground  in  a  more 
e.'ctended  manner  than  any  writer  before  him  in  this  country,  and  in  an  able 
manner.' 

From  The  Presbyterian. 

'  The  volume  befiire  us  contains  a  very  full  and  minute  discussion  of  the  doc- 
trine indicated  in  its  title,  nnd  is  to  he  followed  by  another  which  will  vindicate 
the  claims  of  Presbyterianism.     The  necessity  of  the  work  arises  from  the 


CRITICAL     NOTICEt.  3 

increasing  boldness  and  arrogance  with  wliich  the  Episcopal  Church  obtrudes 
its  claims  as  the  only  true  church,  with  the  only  valid  ordinances,  and  the  only 
divinely  constituted  ministry.  As  to  the  manner  in  which  he  has  accomplished 
his  taskj  we  are  disposed  to  judge  very  favorably,  from  the  necessarily  p;irtial 
manner  m  M'hich  we  have  been  able  to  examine  his  work.  He  bus  acquired  a 
clear  and  distinct  view  of  the  question  discussed  in  all  its  bearings,  and  to  each 
specific  point  lie  has  brought  a  mind  stored  with  llie  fruits  of  exleiisive  reading. 
We  have  admired  the  extent  of  his  research,  and  his  diligeni'e  in  Icariiiiig  all 
that  had  been  said  by  preceding  writers  which  could  throw  lij;lil  on  the  discus- 
sion ;  and  indeed  we  have  rather  regarded  him  as  loo  redundant  in  his  autlmrities  ; 
a  fault,  by  the  way,  not  oftein  committed  in  this  age  of  jumping  at  conclusions. 
Mr.  Smyth  states  the  question  of  Apostolic  succession,  so  much  in  the  mnulh  of 
mo'dern  Episcopalians,  and  he  views  it  in  all  possible  lights,  weighs  it  in  just 
balances,  and  pronounces  it  wanting.  He  not  only  proves  that  the  assumption 
is  unseriptural  and  unreasonable,  but  he  traces  the  boasted  succession,  and 
shows  its  broken  links,  and  finds  after  all  the  flourish  of  trumpets,  that  prelalists 
are  glorying  in  a  mere  shadow.  He  carries  the  war,  moreover,  into  the  enemy's 
camp,  and  he  carries  of!"  many  trophies.  Mr.  Smyth  is  undoubtedly  an  able 
controversialist,  and  prelatists  will  find  him  well  armed  at  all  points,  if  they  are 
disposed  to  attack.' 

From  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

•  The  work  before  us  is,  we  believe,  the  first  distinct  treatise  published  in  this 
country  on  the  subject  of  the  Apostolical  Succession,  and  in  opposition  to  its 
arrogant  assumptions.  A  very  ably  argued  and  well  written  work  has  been 
recently  given  to  the  English  public,  entitled  'An  Essay  on  Apostolical  Succes- 
sion,' by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Powell,  a  Wesleyan  miiiisier,  of  which  Mr.  Smyth 
makes  honorable  mention.  We  consider,  therefore,  the  publication  of  tliese 
Lectures  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  religious  literature  of  the  time, 
demanded  withal  by  the  claims  of  that  portion  of  our  common  Christianity, 
■which  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  no  participation  in  the  anninting  oil  of  pre- 
latical  consecration,  and  whi<'h  lies  beyond  the  range  of  apostolico-succession- 
covonant  blessing.  Mr.  Smyth  has  executed  his  task  in  a  candid,  kind,  and 
courteous  spirit,  while  he  has  subjected  tlic  theory  of  Apostolical  Snccessiim  to 
the  scrutiny  of  a  thorough,  extensive,  and  fearless  examination.  Innumerable 
nulhorilies  are  cited,  and  a  copious  index  concludes  the  volume,  wliich  eniliraces 
upwards  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-nine  pages,  and  is  gotten  up  in  the  finest 
fii'ish  of  the  typographical  art.' 

From  the  Charleston  Observer. 

'  Notice  was  taken  of  these  Lectures  while  in  course  of  delivery.  Tliey  ore 
no'W  published,  and  with  the  notes,  which  contain  as  innrh  reading  as  the  text, 
m.ake  a  large  volume  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  p;iges  Tlie  lypiigrapliicai 
execution  is  in  the  best  modern  style,  from  the  press  of  Crocker  and  Brewster 
Boston.  Our  design,  at  present,  is  simply  to  apprise  our  readers  that  the  work 
is  published,  intending  at  our  leisure  to  give  it  a  more  formal  notice.  As  the 
basis  of  the  opinion  controverted,  rests  upon  what  is  familiarly  known  as  tlie 
Apostolical  Succession,  it  is  here  lliat  the  author  has  exhil'itcd  his  chief  strength. 
And  were  we  to  say  that  he  has  made  good  liis  positinn,  ii  rniahl  be  regarded  as 
only  a  judgment  expressed  in  accordauee  with  picvimisly  existing  prejudices  in 
its  favor.  But  we  hope,  on  the  other  hand,  that  none  will  undertake  to  condemn 
it  unread.  The  advocates  of  High-Churchism,  whether  Roman  or  Anglican, 
arc  chiefly  concerned  in  the  discussion,  and  possibly  they  m  ly  find  in  the  work 
eomething  that  will  moderate  their  exclusive  zeal,  ami  lead  them  to  the  exercise 
of  more  charity  tor  the  opinions  of  those  from  whom  they  dilTor.' 

From  The  Presbyterian. 

'  Mr.  Editor:  —  I  ask  room  in  your  paper  to  commend  ihi'i  work  to  the  attention 
of  the  ministers  and  intelligent  laymen  of  our  Church.  If  diere  lie  any  ammi^ 
tliem  who  dimbl  whether  a  work  of  this  sort  was  called  fir,  their  doubts  will 
not  survive  the  reading  of  the  first  Lecture,  entitled  'The  Neccifsily  for  an  Exam- 


4  CRITICAL     NOTICES. 

ination  into  the  Prelatical  Doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession.'  The  discu.ision, 
therefore,  in  which  Mr.  Smyth  lias  embarked,  was  provoked  by  the  growing 
disposition  among  High-Church  Episcopalians,  to  unchurch  the  Presbyterian 
body,  and  challenge  exclusive  salvation  to  the  members  of  churches  under 
Diocesan  Bishops.  His  work  is  not  an  attack,  but  a  defence  —  a  defence  con- 
ducted with  great  ability  and  skill.  I  venture  to  commend  it  to  the  notice  of 
your  readers,  because  I  am  satisfied  they  will  be  instructed  and  profited  by  the 
perusal  of  it.  The  lectures  are  evidently  the  result  of  much  study,  and  very^ 
extensive  research.  No  single  volume  I  have  seen,  contains  such  a  mass  t)f 
authorities  and  seasonable  testimonies,  on  the  Prelatical  controversy  as  this 
work.  It  is  equally  creditable  to  the  author's  talents  and  industry,  that  he  should 
have  found  time  to  prepare,  in  the  midst  of  his  pastoral  duties,  an  octavo  of 
five  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  on  a  subject  requiring  so  much  study,  and  involv- 
ing an  examination  of  several  hundred  distinct  works  on  either  side  of  the  con- 
troversy. Such  labors  ought  not  to  go  unrequited  ;  but  his  brethren  will  be  ren- 
dering themselves  and  the  cause  of  truth  a  substantial  service,  by  placing  it  in 
their  libraries  ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  tliat  their  attention  is  invited  to  it  by  one 
who  has  no  other  concern  in  it  than  that  which  is  common  to  every  Presbyterian.' 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

*  A  formidable  volume  this  is  in  appearance,  and  on  this  very  account  will 
repel  many  who  might  otherwise  be  attracted  to  examine  its  pages.  In  a  course 
of  twenty-one  lectures  the  author  has,  with  great  industry  and  research,  and  no 
mean  ability  as  a  controversialist,  examined  the  questioji  before  him,  and  pre- 
sented, in  the  compass  of  a  single  book,  a  mass  of  testimony  that  must  be  of 
value  to  those  whose  time  and  means  will  not  allow  them  to  pursue  the  investi- 
gation through  all  the  original  sources,  which  Mr  Smyth  has  so  perseveringly 
explored.' 

From  the  Watchman  of  the  South. 

'  We  offer  a  few  general  remarks  at  present,  intending  at  an  early  day  to 
notice  them,  or  at  least  that  last  named,  far  more  fully  than  we  usually  do.  One 
thing  must  strike  every  one  who  knows  the  history  of  the  author  of  these  works 
We  refer  to  his  industry.  Without  very  firm  bodily  health,  and  having  a  very 
laborious  pastoral  charge,  he  still  economizes  time  sufficient  to  bring  out,  through 
the  press,  from  time  to  time,  important  contributions  to  the  cause  he  loves  This 
is  as  it  should  be.  Mr.  Smyth  is,  of  course,  n  growing  minister.  His  influence 
and  usefulness  are  constantly  extending.  It  is  also  obvious  to  any  one  who 
reads  Mr.  Smyth's  works,  thnt  he  has,  or  has  the  vise  of  a  very  good  library,  and 
is  a  man  of  no  mean  learning.  His  works  show  the  importance  of  ministers' 
salaries  being  such  as  to  enable  them  to  '  give  themselves  to  reading.'  But  Mr. 
Smyth  is  not  a  mere  reader.  He  arranges  and  uses  what  he  reads.  His  char- 
acter as  a  writer  rises  every  year.  Mr.  Smyth  is  also  ardently  attached  to  Pres- 
bylerianism.     Further  remarks  may  be  expected  iji  a  week  or  two.' 

Prom  the  Charleston  Courier. 

'  We  would  call  the  attention  of  all  those  who  profess  any  regard  for  the 
literary  character  of  our  southern  community,  to  a  work  recently  published  by 
our  esteemed  follow-townsman.  the  Rev.  Thomas  Smyth,  entitled  '  Lectures  on 
the  Apostolical  Succession.'  Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  the  intelligent 
reader  <m  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats,  he  will  acknowledge  it  to  be  a  striking 
example  of  extensive  and  profi)und  research,  and  most  diligent  investigation. 
The  author  appears  to  have  enjoyed  some  remarkable  ailvantages  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  inquiries.  Possessing,  as  he  does,  one  of  the  best  private  libraries  in 
this  country — probably  the  most  complete  in  the  theological  department — he  lias 
had  access  to  an  immense  mass  of  autliorities,  not  usually  within  the  reach  of 
the  American  scholar,  and  his  abundant  and  voluminous  references  make  his 
book  an  absolute  index  for  the  use  of  future  writers.  His  industry,  indeed,  has 
left  but  scanty  gleanings,  as  it  would  a)>pear,  for  any  who  may  desire  to  follow 
liim  in  this  discussion.  His  style  is  easy  and  animated,  and  the  interest  of  the 
reader  is  kept  up,  without  flagging,  through  an  octavo  of  nearly  six  hundred 


CRITICAL     NOTICES.  8 

pages.  We  hope  the  success  of  ihis  highly  crcditaljle  cITiirt  mny  he  ?iich  as  to 
induce  the  learned  and  reverend  author  to  complete  his  task,  hy  friviiiff  promptly 
to  the  public  the  second  volume  of  his  course,  promised  in  his  preface.' 

From  tlie  Christian  Observer. 

'  From  a  cursory  examinatiim  of  this  ^vork,  we  think  it  well  adapted  tu 
accomplish  the  good  purposes  for  which  it  is  designed  It  exposes  and  refuies 
the  extravagant  assumptions  of  High-Churchmen,  who  claim  to  be  the  succes- 
sors of  the  apostles  in  the  ministry,  exclusive  of  all  those  who  reject  their  views 
of  Prelacy.  The  work  is  worthy  of  a  more  extended  notice,  which  shall  be 
given  at  an  early  day.' 

From  the  Christian  Watchman.    (Boston  —  a  Baptist  paper.) 

'  This  volume  has  lain  on  our  table  a  considcral/le  time,  to  enable  us  to  give  it 
such  an  examination  as  the  suliject  and  the  merits  of  the  book  demand.  Tlse 
discussion  throughout  is  conducted  with  candor,  impartiality,  and  kindness ;  and 
display^  no  small  share  of  ability,  learning,  and  diligent  research.  It  is  deci- 
dedly the  most  able  and  thorough  vindication  of  the  Presbyterian  view  of  tlie 
subject  which  we  have  ever  seen.  The  discussion,  too,  is  timely,  when  Kpis- 
copal  popery  is  receiving  a  new  impulse  from  the  Oxford  writers,  whose  senti 
ments  find  so  much  sympathy  even  in  our  own  land.  We  commend  the  book 
therefore,  to  the  attention  of  our  brethren  in  the  ministry,  not  as  taking  in  every 
instance  that  ground  which  we,  as  Baptists  and  Independents  shouhl  preler  to 
see  taken,  but  as  an  able  defence  of  the  truth,  and  an  extensive  collection  of 
authorities  and  facts.' 

From  the  Christian  Examiner  and  General  Keview,  (Boston,)  Nov.  1841. 

'  We  by  no  means  intend  to  intimate  that  the  work  is  ill-timed  or  superfluous. 
Such  is  not  our  opinion.  We  believe  it  will  do  good.  It  will  meet  the  new 
phase  of  the  controversy,  and  supply  what  we  have  no  doubt  iSj  in  some  parts  of 
our  country,  a  pressing  want.  Even  the  greatest  absurdities,  iterated  and  reit- 
erated in  a  tone  of  unblushing  confidence,  will  gain  some  adherents.  Uesides, 
the  old  treatises  on  the  subject  are  in  a  maimer  inaccessible  to  the  general  reader, 
and  will  produce  a  deeper  impression,  even  if  it  be  not  more  applicable,  which 
in  ordinary  cases  it  will  be,  to  the  state  of  the  times.  The  present  volume  we 
regard  as  not  only  suited  to  the  times,  but  in  itcelfa  production  of  no  trifling 
merit.  It  indicates  great  industry,  and  no  little  research  on  the  part  nf  the 
writer,  and  Us  statements  appear,  from  such  an  examination  as  we  liave  i)een 
able  to  give  it,  entitled  to  confidence.  .  .  .  There  is  an  earnestness,  good 
temper  and  thoroughness  which  mark  the  work,  which  we  like,  and  we  can 
very  cordially  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  all  who  feel  an  interest  in  the 
subject.' 

From  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review. 

'  This  is  one  of  the  ablest  works  of  theological  controversy,  that  has  ajipcared 
during  the  present  centuiy,  and  we  are  happy  to  be  able  to  add  that  it  is  the  pro- 
<luclion  of  a  Charleston  clergyman.  .  .  .  We  say  then,  in  the  outset,  lliat  the 
Presbyterian  church  has,  in  our  opinion,  in  the  aulhor  of  the  work  before  us,  a 
powerful  champion,  who  wields  a  pulished  p('n,  and  one  who  seems  to  be  enu- 
nently  fitted,  by  his  learning,  his  talents,  and  his  industry,  to  maintain  manfully 
the  cause  he  has  espoused.  We  have  read  his  book  wilh  deep  interest,  and  with 
great  respect  for  his  ability,  and  the  general  candor  and  fairness  of  his  argu- 
ments.'    [April,  1S4.3  :  pp  534  —  537. 

•    From  the  Magnolia,  a  Literary  Magazine  and  Monthly  Review. 

'  The  Doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession  is  here  examined  in  an  elaborate 
course  of  Lectures,  twenty-one  in  number,  by  the  Rev.  Tlii>s.  Smyth,  Pastor  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Charleston.  It  is  not  within  our  province  to 
examine  them.  We  can  say  nothing,  therefore,  of  tlie  question  which  Mr. 
Smyth  discusses.     No  doubt  he  discusses  it  ably.     lie  certainly  discusses  it  ear-i 


•  CRITICAL     NOTICES. 

nestly.  He  is  inftenious  and  forcible,  and  displays  a  wonderful  deal  of  industry^ 
and  research.  Here  now  is  an  octavo  of  near  six  hundred  pages,  brimful  of 
study,  and  crowded  with  authorities.  We  perceive  that  Mr.  Smyth  wins  the 
plaudit '  well  done,'  from  numerous  high  snurces,  advocating  the  same  doctrine 
with  himself.  They  seem  to  think  thai  his  iirgnment  has  dune  ample  justice  to 
his  subject;  and  we  may  add,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  examine  it,  thai  it 
has  been  urged  in  a  candid  and  Christian  temper.' 

From ,  Attorney  General  in  the  State  of . 

'Your  Lectures  I  read  with  the  highest  satisfaction,  nnd  take  great  pleasure  in 
acknowledging  the  oliligations  whicii  I  think  the  friends  of  Christian  truth,  reli 
gious  liberty,  and  I  will  add,  of  the  pure  undefiled  gospel,  owe  to  you  for  them 
Your  vindication  of  the  Church,  by  which  I  mean  the  humble  followers  of  our 
Lord,  by  whatever  name  called,  from  the  claims  of  usurped  ecclesiastical  domi- 
nation, seems  to  me  to  be  complete ;  and  whilst  you  have,  iji  succession, 
destroyed  and  dissipated  every  ground  of  doubt  on  the  subject,  in  the  minds  of 
the  unprejudiced,  your  extensive  and  enlightened  research  and  discrimination, 
have  enabled  you  to  furnish  an  armory,  where  every  one  may  supply  himself 
with  weapons  for  defence  against  individual  attack.  Nor  am  I  less  gratified  with 
the  candid  and  charitable  tone  and  temper  with  which  your  views  are  propounded, 
than  with  the  overwhelming  mass  of  argument  and  illustration  by  which  they 
are  demonstrated.  Your  lectures  seem  to  me  to  have  been  written  in  a  truly 
Christian  spirit ;  and  if  they  have  been  cavilled  at  on  that  ground,  it  can  only  be 
because  men  always  feel  attacks  upon  their  prejudices  to  be  unkind.' 

From  the  New  England  Ptiritan. 

'  Tliis  large  octavo,  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  pages,  is  a  highly  seasona- 
ble offering  to  the  Protestant  Churches  of  our  countr>',  and  displays  an  amount 
of  learning,  of  research,  of  skill  and  power  in  argument,  of  fertility  in  illustration, 
of  combined  candor  and  earnestness  of  spirit,  rarely  to  be  met  with  in  any  volum< 
either  of  home  or  foreign  origin.  We  have  not  had  it  in  hand  long  enough  t 
master  the  ^vhole  of  its  contents  —  but  Icmg:  enoiigh  to  be  satisfied  of  its  happ 
adaptation  to  the  sad  times  on  which  we  have  fallen,  and  of  the  richness  of  lh< 
treasures  it  offers  to  the  acceptance  of  the  true  friends  of  Christ.  The  volume 
before  us,  though  perfectly  calm  and  candid  in  its  discussions,  leaves  this  mattei 
plain  as  sunlicrht.  More  tbrmidable  foes  to  Christ  and  his  apostles  are  not  to  be 
found  amid  all  the  tribes  of  religious  errorists,  than  those  arrayed  beneath  the 
banners  of  Popery  and  High  Chnrchism.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  brethren  ir 
the  ministry  will  avail  themselves  of  the  labors  of  Mr.  Smyth,  to  becom* 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  this  imposing  form  of  error,  and  arm  themselves 
with  '  panoply  divine  '  to  meet  it  and  confound  it.  ere  it  attains  the  preeminenc* 
to  which  it  aspires,  and  which,  unresisted,  it  will  inevitably  attain.' 

From  the  Boston  Recorder. 

'  Tliis  is  truly  an  elaborate  work.  Our  attention  has  been  but  recently  called 
in  a  special  manner,  to  its  contents,  but  our  hicrhest  expectations  of  the  cando 
and  ability  of  the  discussion  have  been  more  than  satisfied.  The  object  of  thi 
author's  animadversion  is  not  episcopacy,  as  such ;  but  the  arrogant  and  exclu 
sive  claim  of  High  Churchmen  and  Romanists  to  be  the  onltj  true  Church  o 
Christ;  his  only  real  ministers,  an  I  the  '  only  sources  of  efficacious  ordinance 
and  covenanted  salvation.'  The  volume  is  eminently  appropriate  to  the  time 
nnd,  if  read  with  a  sincere  desire  for  the  truih,  must,  we  think,  prove  an  imme 
diate  corrective  of  any  tendencies  towards  the  Church  of  England  or  of  Rome 

From  the  Christian  World,  bv  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stockton,  of  the  Protestant 

Methodist  Church. 

'  The  Lectures  which  have  leil  us  to  these  remarks,  are  a  valuable  addition  t 

religious  literature,  and  more  particularly,  the  jiolemical  department  of  it.     The 

number  twenty-one,  and  fill  a  handsome  volume  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  pages 

The  chief  aim  of  the  author  has  been  to  test  the  prelatieal  doctrine  by  Scriptur* 


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